Preparation of Al-magadiite material, copper ions exchange and effect of counter-ions: antibacterial and antifungal applications

In this work, the Al-magadiite is synthesized by the hydrothermal method. It is then used to prepare three copper exchanged materials using copper nitrate, copper chloride, and copper sulfate salts. The materials obtained were characterized and applied as antibacterial and antifungal agents against pathogen strains. The characterization methods showed the presence of four coordinated aluminum atoms in the magadiite framework. The presence of aluminum leads to the total exchange of interlayer sodium cations. Otherwise, the copper exchange rate is influenced by the nature of the counter-ion used. Indeed, the exchanged rate increased in the sense of copper nitrate>copper chloride>copper sulfate. The chemical analysis shows that the ion exchange of Al-magadiite with copper salts is accompanied with dehydration of Cu-exchanged materials. This result was confirmed by XRD diffraction, chemical analysis, and FTIR spectroscopy. This dehydration depends on the nature of the counter ion increase also in the sense of copper nitrate>copper chloride>copper sulfate. Tested as antibacterial and antifungal materials against pathogens strains, all the copper exchanged materials exhibited a good antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria which increased with increasing the copper content of a sample. The best activity was observed in the exchanged sample prepared from copper nitrate. However, a low or no activity is observed against Gram-negative bacteria.