Visible light-driven Synergetic antimicrobial activity of Cu2O quantum dots and electrospun PAN/PCL nanofiber matrix

Abstract

This work reported a successful observation of the synergistic rapid antibacterial activity of the Electrospun PAN/PCL Nanofiber (NF) with Cuprous Oxide -based Quantum Dots (QDs). Our findings reveal that the NF-QDs nanostructure exhibits excellent antibacterial activity that eliminated more than 98% of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in 30 s under visible light. The characterization including X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV–Vis spectrophotometer (UV–Vis), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), atomic force microscopy (AFM), Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) analysis exhibits good physicochemical properties of both synthesized quantum dots and nanofiber. A desired hydrophobic NF with an average surface roughness of 219.40 nm and 243.46 nm for NF–Cu2O and NF–Cu₂O/TiO₂ was achieved with an average diameter of 502.54 nm and 343.02 nm, respectively. The antibacterial activity was tested against antibiotics-resistance strains, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, as well as non-resistance strains, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Our results indicate the promising potential of NF-QDs as antibacterial fabric to halt antibiotic resistance infections and mitigate outbreaks in various sectors.