Multifunctional nanocomposites of chitosan, silver nanoparticles, copper nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes for water treatment: Antimicrobial characteristics

•Multifunctional nanocomposites of chitosan with silver nanoparticles, copper nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes were prepared.•The nanocomposites are highly differentiable at the low contact time and low concentration.•The multifunctional nanocomposite has a higher antimicrobial activity, in relative short contact times.•The prepared Multifunctional nanocomposite can act as a promising integral material for multi-contaminant water treatment.

Multifunctional nanocomposites of chitosan with silver nanoparticles, copper nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes either as bi- or multifunctional nanocomposites were prepared. Change in the overall morphology of the prepared nanocomposites was observed; carbon nanotubes, Ag NPs and Cu NPs are distributed homogeneously inside the polymer matrix individually in the case of the bi-nanocomposites while a combination of different dimensional shapes; spherical NPs and nanotubes was observed in the multifunctional nanocomposite. Multifunctional nanocomposites has a higher antimicrobial activity, in relative short contact times, against both Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria; E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus; respectively in addition to the fungal strain; Aspergillus flavus isolated from local wastewater sample. The nanocomposites are highly differentiable at the low contact time and low concentration; 1% concentration of the multifunctional nanocomposite is very effective against the tested microbes at contact time of only 10 min.

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