Thumbnail Image
Publication

Mommm, I over-etched my copper: optimizing the nano-faceting process for antimicrobial particles

Hopkins, Sammy
; 
Mejorado, Ayana
; 
Burke, Reese
; 
Dash, Brooklyn
; 
Lowe, Terry C.
Citations
Altmetric:
Advisor
Editor
Date
Date Issued
2026-04
Date Submitted
Keywords
Collections
2026 Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium
Show all metadata
Files
Thumbnail Image
Hopkins_Sammy_UGRS2026.pdf
Adobe PDF, 2.3 MB
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/11124/182010
 https://doi.org/10.25676/11124/182010
Embargo Expires
Abstract
Despite careful sanitization procedures, harmful bacteria continue to pose a risk to human health. Even hospital air filtration systems designed to protect the most vulnerable are unable to keep up with microbes. The goal of this project is to enhance the antimicrobial properties of copper particles by chemically nano-faceting them with ferric chloride etchant, based on successful trials of nano-faceting strips of copper. These particles can then be embedded in polyfloss for integration into filtration systems. These trials assess etchant strength, etchant volume, exposure time, pre-processing, and mechanical steps to determine the most important factors for surface nano-faceting. Scanning electron microscope imaging indicates desirable features on three existing trials: one trial featuring 150µL of 7.5 gram ferric chloride per 250 ml etchant and two trials using 200µL of 5g ferric chloride etchant strength at different exposure times. Prior etching attempts often resulted in degradation of the surface facets, which impairs antimicrobial effectiveness. Even within successful trials, not all particles were nano-faceted, indicating inconsistencies in etchant exposure and reaction times. In the future, this procedure will be revised to use soaked filter paper to apply chemicals to copper particles. The updated procedure is expected to minimize human error and result in a more uniform solution distribution without the need for manual agitation, leading to reduced variability and a higher percentage of nano-faceted particles per batch. Once a reproducible procedure has been solidified, particles will be suspended in polyfloss and tested for their effectiveness in the presence of bacteria, viruses, and fungi.
Associated Publications
Rights
Copyright of the original work is retained by the author.
Embedded videos