Novel design of Fe-Cu alloy coated cellulose nanocrystals with strong antibacterial ability and efficient Pb2+ removal.

We report a facile method to prepare a novel composite based on Fe-Cu alloy decorated cellulose nanocrystals (Fe-Cu@CNC) via simple oxidation-reduction reaction. Spherical zero-valent iron nanoparticles (NZVI) and sheet-like copper nanoparticles were serially anchored on the CNC surface, and the generated composite exhibited excellent antibacterial activities and highly efficient Pb2+ removal. The composites had high antibacterial ratios of 95.9 %-99.9 %, because superoxide radicals can cause irreversible damage to the bacteria, eventually leading to apoptosis and bacterial death. Meanwhile, the Fe-Cu@CNC composite showed quick Pb2+ ion removal, reaching a 70.76 % removal within 5 min, a total removal of 93.98 % after 1 h, and excellent reusability (retaining removal efficiency of 80.41 % after six cycles). The adsorption kinetics demonstrated that the adsorption behavior can be described by pseudo-second-order kinetic model (R2>0.99). This study offers a new strategy to prepare a promising composite with advanced antibacterial and heavy metal removal properties for wastewater treatment.