Preparation and characterisation of copper inorganic antibacterial material containing holmium

Abstract

A new inorganic antibacterial material was synthesised by the sol–gel method using copper ion as antibacterial ion, holmium nitrate as additive and white carbon black as carrier. The structure and properties of the inorganic antibacterial material were characterised by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscope (SEM) techniques, energy dispersive spectrum (EDS) analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and antibacterial experiments (Escherichia coli as experimental bacteria). The result showed that the bacteriostasis rate of this new material was higher than that of the general Cu antibacterial white carbon black (without containing holmium); the bacteriostasis rate was over 90%. The form of the inorganic antibacterial material was investigated by XRD. The difference between the new inorganic antibacterial material and white carbon black was studied by FT-IR. Scanning electron microscopy and EDS were used to detect the holmium ion in the material.

Keywords:

• Antibacterial material
• Copper
• Holmium
• White carbon black

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Key Projects of Yunnan Provincial Department of Education (no. 2012Z102), the Talents Fund of Kunming University of Science and Technology (nos. KKZ3201207029 and KKSY201205092) and the Analysis and Testing Foundation of Kunming University of Science and Technology (2010284).