Construction and synthesis of Prussian blue analogues@Prussian blue (PBA@PB) nano-heterojunctions for enhanced antibacterial activity

Novel nano-heterojunctions with excellent antibacterial properties are regarded as effective alternatives to antibiotics for bacterial disinfection. Herein, we have developed a universal strategy to synthesize a series of urchin-shaped Prussian blue analogues@Prussian blue (PBA@PB) nano-heterojunctions via a facile coprecipitation route for efficient bacterial disinfection, for the first time, which could overcome the disadvantages of singe PBA or PB. The optimized PBA@PB nano-heterojunctions showed remarkable bactericidal efficiency ability against multi drug-resistant (MDR) Escherichia coli (E.coli) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), (99.4% and 98.8% bactericidal ratios, respectively), attributed to their outstanding photothermal and catalytic performance. It should be emphasized that the as-prepared nano-heterojunctions also showed amazing bacterial elimination efficiency in sewage. The antibacterial mechanism was also investigated using a variety of spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. It can be attributed to the formation of unique nanoheterojunctions between PB and PBA, which improves the absorption of NIR light and facilitates the separation of generated electron-hole pairs. Therefore, the urchin-shaped PBA@PB nano-heterojunctions may be promising candidates for rapidly bacterial elimination in environmental remedy and wastewater treatment.