Preparation of Three Modified Natural Zeolite Powders and Antibacterial Properties of Antibacterial Paper Prepared Using them as Fillers

Abstract

Natural zeolite powders, 600 meshes in size, were pretreated with three strong acids , then reacted with sodium chloride, sodium sulfate, sodium nitrate, respectively, and yielded sodium zeolite. The samples were loaded Ag++Zn2+, Ag++Cu2+, Zn2++Cu2+, and Ag++Cu2++Zn2+ ions through ion exchange to prepare the antibacterial zeolite powders. The powders were tested by MIC, SEM/EDXA and XRD. The results demonstrated that the pretreatment of zeolite powder with nitric acid could achieve a larger loading amount of metal ions compared to hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid, and the samples loaded with Ag++Zn2+, Ag++Cu2+,Ag++Cu2++Zn2+ could attain excellent antibacterial properties with an MIC of 8 μg/ml to S. aureus Adding 5% of the aforementioned antibacterial zeolite powders to paper as filler resulted in an impressive antibacterial effect against S. aureus, as the inhibitory rate could reach to almost 100% in 1 h.