Naturally occurring metal oxides from rocks as capacitive deionization electrode material for antibacterial activities

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the efficacy of activated carbon (AC) electrode embedded with naturally occurring metal oxides (MO) from rocks for antibacterial activities against both gram- negative (Escherichia coli) and gram-positive (Salmonella aureus) bacteria using capacitive deionization technique. The desalination and disinfection performance of the fabricated AC/MO electrode was evaluated through the batch mode experiments conducted at a potential difference of 1.2 V for 240 min (4 h). The results revealed that the AC/MO electrode achieved a complete removal efficiency of 100% for E. coli and 60% for S. aureus in the field water collected from Nduruma stream (natural water). The bacterial removal mechanism was attributed to the capacitive deionization (CDI) process and physical adsorption. The study highlights the potential of AC/MO electrode material as an effective antibacterial agent for the CDI process, which may have significant implications for the development of new technologies for water purification and disinfection.