Branched CuO-Co3O4 Nanowires Coated with Carbon on Cu Foam for Water Sterilization

Abstract With the rapid development of economy, water pollution becomes a serious threat to people's lives and health. It is urgent to exploit a method to achieve rapid and long-term stability water disinfection. Herein, the branched CuO-Co3O4 nanowires (NWs) were first prepared on the foamed copper substrate, afterwards coated a layer of carbon film on NWs to obtain the innovative CuO-Co3O4@C NWs filter, which remarkably elevated the sterilization property and superior long-term stability. As a result, the resulting CuO-Co3O4@C NWs filter, based on electroporation and reactive oxygen species (ROS) sterilization technology, had an extremely sterilization efficiency of 99.5% for Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus at a flow rate of 1000 mL min-1 and an external voltage of 10 V. More importantly, the filter had excellent bactericidal stability. After 12 hours of continuous operation, the efficiency remained above 80%, which was not possible with the previously reported electroporation technology. This rapid and long-time stability water disinfection material has great potential in practical applications in the future.