Antimicrobial and Virus Adsorption Properties of Y-Zeolite Exchanged with Silver and Zinc Cations

The antimicrobial activity of silver and zinc exchanged cations in Y-zeolite (Ag/CBV-600, Zn/CBV-600) is evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus (gram (+)) and Escherichia coli (gram (-)) bacteria along with their adsorption capacity for viruses: brome mosaic virus (BMV), cowpea chlorotic mottle virus (CCMV), and the bacteriophage MS2. The physicochemical properties of synthesized nanomaterials are characterized by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), UV-Vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). According to the obtained results, the main species associated with the exchanged ions are Ag⁺ and Zn²⁺ cations with the concentration of around 1 atomic %. The incorporation of cations does not modify the Y-zeolite framework. The Ag/CBV-600 and Zn/CBV-600 materials show an inactivation of 90% for both gram (+) and gram (-) bacteria at 16 h at a relatively low concentration of nanomaterial (0.5 mg/mL). Moreover, the samples present good adsorption capacity for BMV, CCMV, and MS2 viruses showing adsorption higher than 40% after 2 h of interaction with the viruses. These prominent results allow the further usage of nanomaterials as an effective remedy to inhibit and reduce the spread of viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 or other gram (+) or gram (-) bacteria.