Abstract
The current work is aimed to fabricate a set of hybrid nanocomposite membranes containing cellulose acetate (CA) reinforced by pure zinc oxide or mixed metal oxides in the form of CuO(0.01, 0.05, 0.1)/ZnO for biological Interest. Pure ZnO and CuO(0.01, 0.05, 0.1)/ZnO mixed oxides have been also prepared using eco-friendly, non-toxic, and low coast methods. CA@ZnO nanocomposite and CA@CuO(0.01, 0.05, 0.1)/ZnO hybrid nanocomposite membranes have been synthesized by a simple, straightforward, non-toxic, and environmentally acceptable casting approach. The chemical structure for the fabricated materials has been confirmed by common characterisation tools including: XRD, SEM, HRTEM, TGA thermal analysis. The average size of the prepared nanoparticle was 25.40 and 10.3 nm for ZnO and CuO/ZnO, respectively. The order of higher thermal stability for the fabricated materials are: CA@CuO(0.01)/ZnO < CA@CuO(0.05)/ZnO = CA@CuO(0.1)/ZnO. R500 for all CA@ZnO and CA@CuO(0.01, 0.05, 0.1)/ZnO membranes shows almost similar residu value which is in agreement with the loading ratio (10%). Furthermore, the biological activity of the fabricated samples has been also investigated by the biological screening against some selected Gram-positive, Gram-negative and some fungi. A higher biological activity was observed for CA@CuO(0.05)/ZnO hybrid nanocomposite membrane compared to the other materials. All the hybrid membranes do not exhibit any antibacterial activity against B. subtilis.