Microwave assisted ultrafast immobilization of CuO nanostructures in paper matrices for antimicrobial applications

CuO nanoflakes with dimension of 50–150 nm × 200 were successfully immobilized on the surface cellulose fibers by an ultrafast (5 min reaction time), scalable microwave assisted method. The high retention up to 70% has been phenomenal considering that immobilization was carried out in absence any linker, binder or aid. Retention almost 87% nanostructures even after five consecutive recyclability steps unprecedented. antimicrobial activities paper matrices have investigated deactivating both G. trabeum and E. coli. desisted growth 28 days completely deactivated coli (CFU order 107) presence visible light exposure time 2 h only.