Innovative Synthesis of PANI/Cu₂O Nanocomposite and Its Antibacterial Properties**

Abstract

To fight various bacteria-caused inflammations and overcome drug resistance, the present work develops a simple in-situ growth method to synthesize Cu 2 O nanoparticles involved nanocomposite using polyaniline (PANI) matrix. The morphology of the as prepared composite was characterized by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-ray Diffraction Spectroscopy (XRD), and the molecular structure was identified using Fourier-Transforms Infrared FT-IR, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), and UV-Visible Spectroscopy (UV-Vis). The antibacterial properties of PANI/Cu 2 O nanocomposite were tested against Escherichia coli (E. coli), Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The combination of PANI and Cu 2 O indicated a synergistic antibacterial effect. The analysis of the antimicrobial mechanism revealed that the positive charge released from the nanocomposite takes the main responsibility. This work provides new ideas for the design of metal oxide and polymer nanocomposites and the development of antibiotics.

PPy and CQDs‐doped novel CuO nanocomposites for enhanced antibacterial activity against drug‐resistant bacteria.**

“…Despite of the antimicrobial effect, nanoparticles of copper oxide have shown some deficiencies such as easy to aggregate, insufficient dispersibility and insolubility in water. Therefore, the nanoparticles of CuO has been combined with polymers or coated on the surface to enable the antibacterial applications [24,25] . Polypyrrole is an organic compound with antibacterial activity due to the strong electrostatic interaction between the positive charges in the polymer structure and the negatively charged bacterial cell wall/membrane [26–28] .…”