Green Synthesized CuO Photocatalyst Activated Carbon Supported for Antibacterial and Photocatalytic Activity

Abstract

Copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles were characterised and investigated with respect to potential antimicrobial applications and photocatalytic activity. It was found that
nanoscaled CuO, generated by Green Synthesis contains Cu2O nanoparticles. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) demonstrated particle sizes in the range 20–95 nm. SEM energy dispersive spectroscopy gave the ratio of copper to oxygen elements as 54.18% to 45.26%. CuO nanoparticles in suspension showed activity against a range of bacterial pathogens, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa and E. Coli with minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBCs) ranging from 100 g/mL to 5000 g/mL. The ability of CuO nanoparticles to reduce bacterial populations to zero was enhanced in the presence of sub MBC concentrations of silver nanoparticles. Studies of CuO nanoparticles incorporated into polymers suggest release of ions may be required for optimum killing, while photocatalytic activity shows the percentage degradation efficiency of Victoria Blue R (VBR) dye, the following equation (Eq. 1) was employed, where C0 represents the VBR dye at the initial and Ct represents the dye concentration at the end.