Synthesis of biochar-based Cu₂O nanoparticles and their antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli

Abstract

In this study, distilers’ grains were used to prepare biochar, then cuprous oxides nanoparticles were firstly loaded to the biochar to improve the properties of Cu₂O. The characterizations of their structure and morphology show that the Cu₂O nanoparticles have been loaded onto the biochar successfully and the biochar-based Cu₂O nanoparticles (Cu₂O/biochar composites) have larger specific surface area than pure Cu₂O nanoparticles. Their antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli (E. coli) was examined. The results show that Cu₂O/biochar composites have superior antibacterial performance than pure Cu₂O nanoparticles which indicates that the existence of biochar can improve the antibacterial activity of Cu₂O nanoparticles.

Keywords:

• Cu₂O nanoparticles
• biochar
• Cu₂O/biochar composites
• antibacterial activity
• Escherichia coli

Additional information

Funding

The study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21671052, 81573399).