Bacteria-derived topologies of Cu2O nanozymes exert a variable antibacterial effect

Abstract

The ability of bacteria to facilitate fabrication of nanomaterials has been adapted towards bacterial sensing applications. In this work, we fabricate spherical, cubic and truncated octahedron topologies of Cu₂O nanoparticles via E. coli-facilitated redox reaction in an electrochemical setup. The Cu₂O nanoparticles exhibit cytochrome c oxidase-like activity with the spherical topology displaying higher catalytic rate compared to the other geometries. The topology-dependent catalytic behavior of Cu₂O nanoparticles has not been reported previously. The Cu₂O nanozymes also display E. coli killing activity in a topology-correlated manner. The E. coli mediated redox reaction in an electrochemical setup is being reported for the first time for synthesis of different topologies of Cu₂O which also exert a variable antibacterial effect.