Study on the ion-exchange copper-loaded antibacterial glasses

In this paper, copper-loaded antibacterial glasses were prepared by an ion-exchange method with CuSO4 or CuCl as copper sources. The effects of different molten salts and ion exchange duration on the antibacterial properties of copper-loaded glasses were investigated. The experimental results show that the glasses exchanged with CuSO4/Na2SO4 mixed molten salts have a higher surface copper loading than that with CuCl/KCl mixed molten salts. The sample color results from the reduced Cu0. The equilibrium between Cu+ and Cu0 is related to the Sn2+ ions existed in the lower surface of float glass. Finally, the antibacterial function of glass samples was found to be related to the charge transfer between Cu++e−↔Cu0, and has a proportional correlation with the content of Cu+ ions on the glass surface.