Adsorption Studies of the Gram-Negative Bacteria onto Nanostructured Silicon Carbide

Abstract

In this study, we demonstrated a significant adsorption of Pseudomonas putida bacteria onto aggregates of nanofibers (NFSiC) and nanorods (NRSiC) of silicon carbide (SiC) in aqueous suspensions. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms were used to quantify adsorption affinities. It was found that adsorption of the bacteria strongly depended on the structure of the silicon carbide and the pH of the aqueous solution, which affected the isoelectric point of both the silicon carbide and the bacterial cells. The strongest affinity of bacteria was noted in the case of NRSiC aggregates. Affinity was inversely proportional to pH. Similarly, the adsorption of bacteria to the surface of the aggregates increased with decreasing pH. For NFSiC, the affinity of the bacteria for the surface of the aggregates was also inversely proportional to pH. However, adsorption increased at higher pH values. This discrepancy was explained by microscopic analysis, which showed that the bacterial cells were both adsorbed onto and trapped by NFSiC. The adsorption of bacteria onto a micrometric silicon carbide reference material was significantly smaller than adsorption onto nanostructured SiC.