Investigating the release of ZnO nanoparticles from cement mortars on microbiological models

Adrian Augustyniak,Pawel Sikora,Krzysztof Cendrowski,Ewa Mijowska,Dietmar Stephan,Anna Głowacka,Joanna Jablonska

doi:10.1007/s13204-021-01695-w

Adrian Augustyniak, Pawel Sikora + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-021-01695-w

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Abstract

Incorporating zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) into cement mortars may provide additional functions, e.g., self-cleaning and antibacterial or electroconductive ability. However, these NPs are also known for their potential toxicity. During the life cycle of a cement mortar, various abrasive forces cause the release of admixtures to the natural environment. The effect of the released NPs on model microorganisms has not been extensively studied. Previous studies have shown that nanomaterials may affect various microorganisms’ physiological responses, including changes in metabolic activity, biofilming, or growth rate. In this study, we have focused on evaluating the response of model microorganisms, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans, towards ZnO nanoparticles released from cement mortars in different deterioration scenarios. The addition of ZnO nanoparticles to cement mortars had a noticeable effect on impeding the strength development. We have also detected that depending on the deterioration scenario, the release of ZnO nanoparticles was varied. Our studies have also shown that even though the release of nanoform ZnO could be limited by poor dispersion or the used filtration technique, the eluates have caused slight but statistically significant changes in the physiological features of studied microorganisms showing relatively low toxicity.

Highlights

The modification of cement-based composites by including nanoparticles (NPs) has gathered spectacular attention for the last two decades
Our studies have shown that the highest amount and influence of released Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles on microorganisms were noticed for the samples with the highest ZnO ratio and exposed to weathering scenarios
Our study confirmed that mechanical abrasion resulted in the release of a certain amount of ZnO nanoparticles

Summary

Introduction

The modification of cement-based composites by including nanoparticles (NPs) has gathered spectacular attention for the last two decades. During various internal and external conditions over the life cycle of building structures, cementitious composites undergo a series of deterioration and weathering processes, the possibility of releasing of nanomaterials should be carefully studied (Lee et al 2010; Van Broekhuizen et al 2011; Jones et al 2016; Silva et al 2018; Giese et al 2018; Augustyniak et al 2019). ZnO nanoparticles are used for altering a vast range of composites’ properties, including retardation of hydration and setting time of cement (Senff et al 2014; Liu et al 2019; Siler et al 2019; Osman et al 2020), modification of rheological parameters (Ghafari et al 2016), improving long-term mechanical performance (Nazari and Riahi 2011; Thangapandi et al 2020), increasing impermeability of the cement matrix (Nazari and Riahi 2011; Arefi and Rezaei-Zarchi 2012; Kamal et al 2020) as well as producing composites with self-cleaning and antibacterial (Senff et al 2014; Elia and Nima 2019; Le Pivert et al 2019) or electroconductive ability (Ghahari et al 2017)

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