Silver Sulfide Quantum Dots Kill 99.9% of Bacteria in the Water

A Chinese research team introduced a new simple, inexpensive water disinfection method in the Angewandte Chemie journal. Unlike other water purification methods that use solar energy or graphene hydrogels, this new method uses tiny biocompatible assemblies of atoms called quantum dots.

Silver sulfide quantum dots are not new in photodynamic and photothermic therapy. They are instrumental in treating certain tumors and skin diseases. But despite their use in said applications, quantum dots have not been utilized for water disinfection due to the complicated and costly way of producing them.

The quantum dots developed by the research team led by Xushen Qiu, Wei Wei, and Jing Zhao of Nanjing University are simple and inexpensive. This is possible by enclosing the quantum dots with caps made of a silver-binding peptide.

Upon exposure to near-infrared (NIR) light, these quantum dots, which are photostable, biocompatible, and chemically stable, show high efficiency in eliminating bacteria in the water. Silver sulfide quantum dots kill over 99% of E. coli bacteria in the water within 25 minutes of NIR irradiation.

Read the full article here to learn more about MXenes and his more economical way of cleaning water.

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