Solute Capture and Doping of Al in Cu₂O: Corrosion, Tarnish Resistance, and Cation Release of High-Purity Cu-Al Alloys in Artificial Perspiration

Abstract

Frequently-touched surfaces are a common transmission source for hospital and community acquired infections. Cu alloys have shown promise as antimicrobial surfaces, able to kill even antibiotic-resistant bacteria within minutes. However, the most efficacious alloy systems readily tarnish making them unsuitable for hospital applications and tarnish-resistant (e.g., passive) systems often cannot maintain sufficient Cu ion release to maintain antimicrobial function. An ideal alloy would have optimal corrosion, tarnishing, and Cu release tuned through alloying elements. Cu-Al alloys are tarnish-resistant, yet the precise role of Al remains unclear. Highpurity binary alloys of Cu-Al were fully immersed in artificial perspiration at open circuit to evaluate soluble cation release, quantity and identity of corrosion products, as well as interrogate the role of Al on the chemical, structural, and electronic defect structure of oxides formed. Al became captured in Cu 2 O as a substitutional cation defect which in turn caused structural, and electronic modifications. This doped film did not inhibit soluble Cu cation release for antimicrobial function even after 144 h. Al-doped cuprous oxide had fewer electronic charge carriers (holes) due to Al-doping and subsequent increased electronic resistance. These results are promising regarding the aim of generating a tunable tarnish-resistant layer for an antimicrobial Cu-based alloy.

Effects of Al Precursors on Deposition Selectivity of Atomic Layer Deposition of Al2O3 Using Ethanethiol Inhibitor

“…The Cu 3p and Al 2p XPS peaks overlapped because they are found in a similar energy range at approximately 75 eV. 33,34 Therefore, the formation of Al 2 O 3 on Cu by ALD could not be clearly confirmed by XPS with similar peaks observed in the vicinity of 75 eV on Cu before and after the ALD of Al 2 O 3 (see Figure S6c). However, on the basis of the complementary WCA and ellipsometry analysis, we conclude that the ET inhibitor blocks ALD Al 2 O 3 using DMAI until 30 cycles on the Co substrate and until 50 cycles on the Cu substrate.…”

Robust Trioptical-State Electrochromic Energy Storage Device Enabled by Reversible Metal Electrodeposition

“…For charged rGO (Figure 4D), the major peak (198.4 eV) is characteristic of Cl 2p 3/2 of the CuCl electrolyte residue. 53,54 The minor peak (200.5 eV) is tentatively assigned to Cl 2p 3/2 of ClO − . 55 This verified the presence of ClO − species, which were oxidized from the Cl − species in the electrolyte and adsorbed onto the rGO film during charging.…”

Highly enhanced visible light photodetection properties of a ZnO phototransistor via an additional solution processed thin Al2O3 layer

“…The calculated C Al and C O are summarized in Table 3, where S Al and S O were 0.234 and 0.711, respectively. 28 As shown in Table 3, the stoichiometry of the Al 2 O 3 film was Al : O = 2 : 3. However, the slight peak of Al 2p centered at a binding energy of B74.2 eV was also observed in the Al 2 O 3 /ZnO film.…”