Antibacterial Activity of Copper Nanoparticles and Copper Nanocomposites against Escherichia Coli Bacteria

Abstract

Nanotechnology is an emerging technology which has wide applications in many fields. The major objective of the study is to synthesise copper nanoparticles and its composites and to determine their antibacterial activity. A filter based on the developed material was fabricated. Copper nanoparticles were synthesised by chemical reduction method and were encapsulated in a biopolymer, alginate and fabricated anti bacterial water filter using copper nanoparticle-coated polyurethane foams. The synthesised copper nanoparticle, copper nanoparticle encapsulated in alginate beads and copper nanoparticle coated PU foam were characterized by several techniques including SEM and EDS analysis. Finally antimicrobial efficiency was determined against E.coli. Well diffusion method was used for testing the antibacterial effect of synthesised nanoparticls. The time and dose dependant study of copper alginate beads showed that the effectiveness of particle increase with increasing particle dose and contact time. The results obtained from the effect of bacterial load indicated that there was a decrease in antibacterial activity as the bacterial concentration increased. Flow test was conducted for the antibacterial filter by passing contaminated water through the filter and no bacteria were detected. The antimicrobial activity of metal nanoparticles is due to the large surface area which ensures a broad range of reactions with bio-organics present on the cell surface. Our research suggests that copper-coated polyurethane foams can be used as excellent antibacterial water filter.

Nanomaterials and microbes’ interactions: a contemporary overview

“…Immense research has been carried out on copper nanoparticles. They have been studied to exhibit deleterious effects on E. coli (Deryabin et al 2013;Jamshidi and Jahangiri-Rad 2014;Harikumar and Aravind 2016;Chatterjee et al 2014), Bacillus subtilis (Yoon et al 2007), Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus (Azam et al 2012).…”

Filtration Materials Modified with 2D Nanocomposites—A New Perspective for Point-of-Use Water Treatment

“…An increase in the antibacterial effect related to the nanometal amount suggested that the diffusion of Ag and Cu ions from the nanocomposite was the main mechanism of the antimicrobial action of the powdery nanocomponents, while Ti 3 C 2 MXene and Al 2 O 3 nanoparticles played minor roles. The action of nano-Ag and nano-Cu is related to the adhesion of nanoparticles to the cell membrane and following interactions with its components resulting in changes of the cell permeability and affecting cellular respiration, enzymatic, gene expression, and metabolic processes [ 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ]. The induction of oxidative stress associated with the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and silver ion release should also be considered [ 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 ].…”

Green Nanotechnology: Advancement in Phytoformulation Research

“…Cu nanoparticles of magnolia leaf extract have been biologically synthesized to develop stable nanoparticles sized 40 to 100 nm. Furthermore, the activity of Cu nanoparticles has shown potential antibacterial activity against cells of Escherichia coli [32]. Syzygium aromaticum (clove) extracts have been used in the synthesis of Cu nanoparticles with a spherical to granular morphology and a mean particle size of 40 nm [33].…”