Radiation-induced synthesis of copper sulfide nanotubes with improved catalytic and antibacterial activities

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 28; no. 32; pp. 44467 - 44478
• Main Authors: Bekhit, Mohamad, Abo El Naga, Ahmed O., El Saied, Mohamed, Abdel Maksoud, Mohamed I. A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.08.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Antibacterial activity; Antimicrobial agents; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Bacteria; Catalysis; Catalysts; Coliforms; Copper; Copper sulfides; Covellite; Dyes; E coli; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Gram-negative bacteria; Gram-positive bacteria; Methylene blue; Microbicides; Microbiota; Morphology; Nanomaterials; Nanoparticles; Nanostructured materials; Nanotechnology; Nanotubes; Physical characteristics; Polyvinyl alcohol; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Radiation; Radiation effects; Radiolysis; Reducing agents; Research Article; Spectroscopy; Sulfides; Transmission electron microscopy; Ultraviolet spectroscopy; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; X-ray diffraction; Yeasts; CuS; Antimicrobial activity; Congo red; Gamma radiations; Reduction of organic dyes; Methylene blue
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-13482-9

In the current paper, copper sulfide nanotubes have been successfully synthesized via the green, simple, and effective gamma-radiolysis method without adding any capping or reducing agents. The structural and morphological characteristics of the as-prepared CuS nanotubes were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N 2 adsorption-desorption measurements at 77 K, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy, which all demonstrated the formation of pure CuS covellite phase with tubular morphology. The synthesized CuS nanotubes possessed not only high activity towards the reduction of both cationic (methylene blue) and anionic (Congo red) dyes in the presence of NaBH 4 but also exhibited excellent reusability. In addition, the pseudo-first-order kinetic model represented the reduction of MB very well, and the value of the normalized rate constant (2.4 × 10 −2  s −1  mg −1 ) was higher than those of other solid catalysts reported in the literature. Ultimately, CuS nanotubes were found to have a broad-spectrum microbicidal action against the common microbiota, such as Gram-positive (exemplified by Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus ), Gram-negative bacteria (exemplified by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli ), yeast (exemplified by Candida albicans ), and plant pathogenic fungi (exemplified by Aspergillus niger ).