In situ rapid Synthesis of small ZIF-8 crystal as efficient antibacterial

Abstract The small Zeolite Imidazole Framework-8 (ZIF-8) crystal was synthesized rapidly by in situ growth method via dilute zinc-containing solution. ZIF-8 is a kind of traditional antibacterial material with high antibacterial performance. However, the synthesis time in the common synthesis for ZIF-8 material lasts not less than 24h with the disadvantage of aggregation and inefficient, which limit its application. The synergism of in situ growth method via dilute zinc-containing solution can effectively abbreviate the synthesis time and promote antibacterial effect. ZIF-8(120nm) has the best antibacterial activity than the control samples, and its inhibitory rate (in 6 h) of E.coli is 85.1% and the inhibitory rate of S. aureus reaches 79.1%. And characterization results including XRD, FT-IR, SEM, BET and TEM also proved the successful synthesis of small ZIF-8 crystal. The XPS data and DFT calculation was demonstrated that small ZIF-8 crystal leads to the release of more zinc ions to enhance bacteriostatic effect.