Influences of Cu-Ti amorphous alloy on the properties of mortar: Wastewater treatment and bacteria inactivation

Abstract

Due to the superior catalytic properties, amorphous alloy (AA) can be used in concrete of sewage system to achieve wastewater treatment and bacteria inactivation, thus mitigating microbial-induced concrete corrosion and promoting the durability of concrete. In this study, three types of Cu/Ti amorphous alloys (AA) prepared by ball milling method according to different copper/titanium atomic ratios (35:65, 50:50, 65:35) were employed as anti-bacteria agent for cement mortars. Detailed investigations were conducted into the physical, mechanical, and anti-bacteria properties of amorphous alloys mortars (AAM) in the range of addition 0.3%-0.9% AA. It was demonstrated that the produced AA had a higher degree of amorphism, smaller particles size, and higher zeta potential with the increase of titanium content, leading to the reduce of total porosity of AAM up to 18.33%, and the enhancement of compressive and flexural strength at 28d up to 13.30% and 25.55%, respectively. In addition, the synthesized AA showed excellent antibacterial performances, in which the bacteriostasis rates on Escherichia coli for three types of AA all reached up to 100% after 24 h immersion. After adding in the cement mortars, the anti-bacterial activity and catalytic degradation capacity of AAM increased as the AA contents increased. AAM with 0.9 % Cu50Ti50 could achieve the best performance of bacteria inactivation and wastewater, in which 95.17% of bacteria was killed after 72 h and the degradation efficiency of Rhodamine B dyes reached up to 100% after 6 h. The findings are expected to facilitate the development of new functional applications of AAM in wastewater treatment.