Cotton decorated with Cu2O-Ag and Cu2O-Ag-AgBr NPs via an in-situ sacrificial template approach and their antibacterial efficiency.

Cotton fabrics decorated with Cu2O-Ag and Cu2O-Ag-AgBr NPs have been prepared using chemically immobilized Cu2O NPs as sacrificial templates. The objective is to prepare Cu2O-Ag heterostructures with Ag being intimately in contact with Cu2O NPs by galvanic replacement reactions without addition of any external reducing agent. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis were used to study the morphology and the chemical composition of the nanocomposites formed on the fabrics. The morphology of the ensuing nanostructures was shown to be dependent on the Ag precursor, AgNO3, concentration. The antimicrobial activity of the treated fabrics was evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli as model strains of gram-negative and gram-positive, respectively. The results showed that the fabrics loaded with Cu2O-Ag and Cu2O-Ag-AgBr nanocomposites exhibited enhanced sterilization activity compared to the Cu2O treated fabric.