Archive / Volume LXXVIII 2025

Oksana DEMCHYNA¹, Galyna KHOVANETS’¹, Tetyana POKYNBRODA¹, Nataliia KORETSKA¹, Andrii FEDORCHUK¹, Pavlo LYUTYY², Mariana SHEPIDA², Andriy KYTSYA¹

¹Department of Physical Chemistry of Fossil Fuels of the Institute of Physical-Organic Chemistry and Coal Chemistry named after L. M. Lytvynenko of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Naukova Str., 3a, 79060 Lviv, Ukraine
e-mail: demchynaoksana@ukr.net

²Lviv Polytechnic National University, Bandery Str., 12, 79013 Lviv, Ukraine

DOI:

CATALYTIC AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF Cu₂O NANOPARTICLES IMMOBILIZED ON ZEOLITE MATRIX

Nanocomposites based on natural and synthetic zeolites and copper, which are characterized by a high specific surface area and are resistant to aggressive environments and successfully combine catalytic and antimicrobial properties, are a promising material for complex technologies for wastewater and/or natural water treatment. The study of various composite materials in which metal nanoparticles are immobilized on the surface of inert fillers allows for the production of relatively cheap and effective materials while preserving the unique properties of nanoparticles. Therefore, the aim of this work was to study the adsorption of copper ions by synthetic zeolite of the Na-A brand in order to optimize the conditions for the synthesis of metal-zeolite nanocomposites and to study the physicochemical, catalytic and antimicrobial properties of the obtained nanostructures.
Cu2O nanoparticles were obtained by reducing Cu2+ ions adsorbed on zeolite with glucose in an alkaline medium. It was shown that the adsorption isotherm of Cu2+ ions is described by the Langmuir equation, and the ion exchange capacity of the zeolite is 1 mmol/g. Using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), it was found that the obtained nanoparticles are evenly distributed on the surface of the carrier, and their size is 20–50 nm. Using the example of the oxidation reaction of methylene blue dye as a model organic pollutant of wastewater by hydrogen peroxide, the catalytic activity of the obtained composite was investigated and the effective rate constant of the process was calculated. It was found that the catalytic oxidation of the MB dye is described by second-order kinetic reaction equations. It has been shown that copper nanoparticles immobilized on the surface of zeolite exhibit fungicidal activity against Candida utilis, Aspergillus niger and antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus.

Keywords: nanocomposite, Zeolite–Cu2O, adsorption, Fenton system, antimicrobial activity.

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