The past several decades have witnessed tremendous research to discover ways for controlling heavy metal pollution, but most of the strategies do not involve reuse of the captured heavy metals. Herein, we propose a graphene oxide -based strategy for the effective removal of Cu²⁺ ions from water, coupled with their reuse as an antibacterial agent. Using GO nanosheets as an adsorbent and nanosupport, the Cu²⁺ ions were effectively extracted from water (>99.9%) and reduced in situ to copper nanoparticles (Cu NPs) containing both crystalline Cu and Cu₂O. The as-captured Cu NPs showed efficient in vitro antibacterial ability against Escherichia coli, reducing the bacteria from 10⁹ to 10¹ CFU mL^–1 by using ¹ mg mL^–1 Cu NPs/GO NSs for 1 h. The minimum inhibitory concentration determined to be only 16 μg mL^–1. For practical applications, Cu recovered from wastewater could reduce bacteria by 8 log CFU in 1 h. The recovered Cu was still able to reduce the bacteria by 7 log CFU after 2 months of storage in an argon atmosphere. This strategy of extracting heavy metals and subsequently reutilizing to kill bacteria will be of great significance for environmental remediation and public healthcare.

在过去的几十年中，进行了大量的研究以发现控制重金属污染的方法，但是大多数策略并不涉及对捕获的重金属的再利用。本文中，我们提出了一种基于氧化石墨烯的策略，可从水中有效去除Cu ²⁺离子，并将其重新用作抗菌剂。使用GO纳米片作为吸附剂和纳米载体，可以有效地从水中（> 99.9％）提取Cu ²⁺离子，并原位还原为同时含有结晶Cu和Cu ₂ O的铜纳米颗粒（Cu NPs）。显示出对大肠杆菌有效的体外抗菌能力，使细菌从10 ⁹减少至10 ¹通过使用¹ mg mL ^–1 Cu NPs / GO NSs 1 h达到CFU mL ^- 1。确定的最小抑菌浓度仅为16μgmL ^–1。对于实际应用，从废水中回收的铜可以在1小时内将细菌减少8 log CFU。在氩气气氛中保存2个月后，回收的铜仍能将细菌减少7 log CFU。提取重金属然后再利用以杀死细菌的这种策略对于环境修复和公共医疗保健具有重要意义。