Hierarchical Cu2O nanowires covered by silver nanoparticles-doped carbon layer supported on Cu foam for rapid and efficient water disinfection with lower voltage

Water safety is closely related to the human health, an efficient and low-cost water disinfection method is far-reaching for all kinds of water supplies. However, how to achieve convenient and efficient water disinfection is still an open question. Herein, we firstly prepared a hierarchical Cu2O nanowires covered by silver nanoparticles-doped carbon layer on Cu foam (C/Cu2O-AgNPs) in a simplified one-step impregnation method. And it is confirmed that the fabricated three-dimensional structure with carbon layer which was embed into silver nanoparticles exhibits excellent conductivity than that with silver nanoparticles-loaded carbon layer. The filter combined with selected C/Cu2O-AgNPs materials achieved 99.6% sterilizing rate against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus under external voltage of 10 V with 1200 mL min−1 flow rates. Based on the analyses of experimental results and finite element simulations, the efficient sterilization with high flow rate comes from the strong adhesion of AgNPs embedding in the carbon layer and the enhanced conductivity of electrodes due to the improved electronic transmission in the contact of AgNPs and Cu2O nanowires. This rapid water disinfection will have a great potential in future practical application.