Determination of Cu2+ ions release rate from antimicrobial copper bearing stainless steel by joint analysis using ICP-OES and XPS

AbstractAntibacterial Cu bearing stainless steels (CuSS) have been developed recently and their performance has attracted significant attention widely in biomedical, healthcare and environmental facilities in cross-disciplines. The antibacterial ability and its efficiency of the CuSS are associated to the rate and concentration of Cu2+ ions releases from its surface. The surface properties such as corrosion resistance are also influenced by the amount and the rate of Cu ions released. Thus, the aim of this study focused on the determination of trace release amount of Cu2+ ions from a typical copper bearing 304 stainless steel (304CuSS). Meanwhile, the release of other key elements in the material such as Cr, Fe, Ni were also examined, and found these multiple elemental releases produced a highly synergistic effect on killing bacterium. The release rate of the metals from 304CuSS was conducted by an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). In this study, the commercial 304 stainl...