Antibacterial Investigation of Cu and CuO Based PSF/PVP Composite Membranes

William M. Motswainyana*, Bakang F. Modukanele, Adewale O. Adeloye

Received : April 02, 2026 | Published : April 24, 2026

Citation: W. M. Motswainyana, B. F. Modukanele, and A. O. Adeloye, “Antibacterial investigation of Cu and CuO based PSF/PVP composite membranes,” Journal of Materials Science and Emerging Technologies, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 1–8, 2026.

License: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) , which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided appropriate credit is given to the original author(s) and the source, a link to the Creative Commons licence is provided, and any changes made are indicated.

Abstract

In this work, we report fabrication and antimicrobial activity of PSF/PVP based Cu and CuO membranes against human gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli. These membranes were fabricated by electrospinning and have been fully characterized, including SEM, EDX and X-ray diffraction. SEM images of the composite membranes clearly showed presence and distribution of Cu and CuO nanoparticles on the PSF/PVP fiber surfaces. The PSF/PVP based Cu and CuO nanoparticles membranes exhibited significant antibacterial activity against E. coli, with no evidence of leaching, thereby positioning the composite membranes as potential antibacterial materials for water filtration, protective clothing and wound healing.

Keywords: Nanoparticles; electrospinning; fibers; membranes; antimicrobial