Metal-organic framework derived ZnO/porous carbon − 13X zeolite composite modified with chitosan and silver nanoparticles as versatile antibacterial agent

In this work, metal-organic framework consists of zinc, and terephthalic acid (H₂BDC) as linkers (Zn-MOF) was utilized as a starting material to prepare a composite for antibacterial agents. First, the as-synthesized Zn-MOF was carbonized, leaving porous ZnO-metal-organic framework derived carbon (ZnO-MOFC), then composited with zeolite 13X to enhance its polarity. Second, the ZnO-MOFC/13X composite was decorated with chitosan/Ag nanoparticles (ZnO-MOFC/13X/Chi/AgNP) to promote its antibacterial activity. The characterizations using XRD, FTIR, SEM, TGA and BET N₂ sorption analysis provide the physicochemical properties of each component and their interaction in the composite. Based on TGA, Zn-MOF has changed into ZnO-MOFC at 600 °C, while the BET reveals that ZnO-MOFC is nanoporous (ø = 2.668 nm), and 13X is microporous (ø = 2.317 nm) materials with large surface areas. The morphology of ZnO-MOFC depicts layerd structure with reguler pore and 13X morphology shows octahedral cuboid structure. The chitosan assisted the dispersion of AgNP on the surface of the composite. The antibacterial properties were tested using the agar diffusion method on S. aureus and E. coli bacteria. The results show that the ZnO-MOFC/13X/Chi/AgNP composite has high antibacterial activity based on the average diameter of the inhibition zone of 14.5 mm and 11.5 mm on both S. aureus and E. coli bacteria, respectively. The results are comparable to erythromycin and vancomycin as antibiotics for E. coli and S. aureus giving the inhibition zone of 11.06 mm and 11.93 mm, respectively.