Antibacterial behaviors of Cu2O particles with controllable morphologies in acrylic coatings

Biofouling, a global issue, exerts an adverse impact on ocean shipping, deep-sea exploration, aquaculture and other industries. The addition of Cu 2 O particles to coatings is the most popular and effective method used for biofouling resistance in the ocean circumstance. Herein, Cu 2 O particles with three kinds of morphologies, including cube, sphere and cubooctahedron, were fabricated by liquid phase reducing method. Particle size, crystallinity, component, activity in aqueous solution, antibacterial property and copper ion leaching rate were systematically investigated. XRD and XPS jointly reflected that as-prepared Cu 2 O particles were highly pure and impurity was absent. Among three kinds of Cu 2 O particles, cubooctahedron Cu 2 O was the most active, possessed the highest ion leaching rate and exhibited the best antibacterial property. It could be deduced that morphology of Cu 2 O particles affected its activity in aqueous solution, then impacted release rate and ultimately influenced antibacterial capacity. Morphology and component of bacteria, before and after being exposed to as-synthesized Cu 2 O-acrylic hybrid coatings were also studied and results proved that copper ion was prone to do a damage to the cell membrane of E.coli rather than B. subtilis because of the difference between cell walls.