Progress in thermochemical hydrogen production with the copper–chlorine cycle

http://jes.ecsdl.org/content/161/4/H183.full.pdf

Sequential Determination of Mono- and Divalent Copper in Water by Flow-Injection Analysis

Bacterial infections are one of the leading causes of death worldwide. In the case of topical bacterial infections such as wound infections, silver (Ag) has historically been one of the most widely used antibacterials. However, scientific publications have demonstrated the adverse effects of silver on human cells, ecotoxicity and insufficient antibacterial effect for the complete elimination of bacterial infections. The use of Ag in the form of nanoparticles (NPs, 1-100 nm) allows to control the release of antibacterial Ag ions but is still not sufficient to eliminate infection and avoid cytotoxicity. In this study, we tested the potency of differently functionalized copper oxide (CuO) NPs to enhance the antibacterial properties of Ag NPs. The antibacterial effect of the mixture of CuO NPs (CuO, CuO-NH2 and CuO-COOH NPs) with Ag NPs (uncoated and coated) was studied. CuO and Ag NP combinations were more efficient than Cu or Ag (NPs) alone against a wide range of bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant strains such as gram-negative Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa as well as gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis and Streptococcus dysgalactiae. We showed that positively charged CuO NPs enhanced the antibacterial effect of Ag NPs up to 6 times. Notably, compared to the synergy of CuO and Ag NPs, the synergy of respective metal ions was low, suggesting that NP surface is required for the enhanced antibacterial effect. We also studied the mechanisms of synergy and showed that the production of Cu+ ions, faster dissolution of Ag+ from Ag NPs and lower binding of Ag+ by proteins of the incubation media in the presence of Cu2+ were the main mechanisms of the synergy. In summary, CuO and Ag NP combinations allowed increasing the antibacterial effect up to 6 times. Thus, using CuO and Ag NP combinations enables to retain excellent antibacterial effects due to Ag and synergy and enhances beneficial effects, since Cu is a vital microelement for human cells. Thus, we suggest using combinations of Ag and CuO NPs in antibacterial materials, such as wound care products, to increase the antibacterial effect of Ag, improve safety and prevent and cure topical bacterial infections. 

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Synergistic antibacterial effect of copper and silver nanoparticles and their mechanism of action

Abstract Information about copper speciation forms is essential for analytical laboratories in the copper industry. Because of the technological importance of this analytical information, many laboratories have developed different methods for the speciation of this metal over the past few decades. This review covers over one hundred years (from 1901 to the present) of published work focused on analytical procedures for copper speciation. The analytical techniques used for speciation analysis are classified into two main groups: instrumental techniques and classical methods, which can be based on selective solutions or titration methods implemented after the required sample preparation.

Speciation of Copper in Materials from the Copper Industry – A Minireview

Copper(I) can be determined in the presence of copper(II) by oxidation with an excess of potassium iodate, the copper(II) being masked with oxalate. The unconsumed iodate is determined iodimetrically and the total copper is then determined on the same solution by demasking with acid and iodide, followed by iodimetric titration. The method can be extended to include elemental copper which can be separated from copper(I) and copper(II) oxides by dissolving the oxides in an ammonium chloride-ascorbic acid solution. The separated copper metal can then be determined by the iodate procedure. The methods are accurate and reproducible and have been applied to the determination of commercial copper(I) chloride, copper powder and partially oxidized copper powder. The relative standard deviation is about 0.35% in the range of 5.8–100 mg of Cu.

W. I. Stephen

Papers

The titrimetric determination of copper(I), copper(II) and copper metal in admixture