Ternary and Quaternary Nanocrystalline Cu-Based Sulfides as Perspective Antibacterial Materials Mechanochemically Synthesized in a Scalable Fashion.

Twelve Cu-based ternary (Cu-Me 1 -S, Me 1 = Fe, Sn, or Sb) and quaternary (Cu-Me 2 -Sn-S, Me 2 = Fe, Zn, or V) nanocrystalline sulfides are shown as perspective antibacterial materials here. They were prepared from elemental precursors by a one-step solvent-free mechanochemical synthesis in a 100 g batch using scalable eccentric vibratory ball milling. Most of the products have shown strong antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. For instance, stannite Cu 2 FeSnS 4 and mohite Cu 2 SnS 3 were the most active against E. coli , whereas kesterite Cu 2 ZnSnS 4 and rhodostannite Cu 2 FeSn 3 S 8 exhibited the highest antibacterial activity against S. aureus . In general, stannite has shown the best antibacterial properties out of all the studied samples. Five out of twelve products have been prepared using mechanochemical synthesis for the first time in a scalable fashion here. The presented synthetic approach is a promising alternative to traditional syntheses of nanomaterials suitable for biological applications and shows ternary and quaternary sulfides as potential candidates for the next-generation antibacterial agents.