Antifungal Characteristics of Spherical Carbon Materials with Zinc Oxide

Abstract

Carbon spheres containing ZnO were prepared through carbonization of a resin ion-exchanged by Zn²⁺ ions. Candida albicans was used as a test fungus, and the antifungal activity of the obtained carbon samples was studied by a colony count method. The amount of ZnO in carbon spheres decreased with increasing carbonization temperature, whereas the specific surface areas increased with decreasing temperature. Antifungal activity was recognized in all carbon samples and increased with increasing the powder concentration in medium. At powder concentration above 25mg·cm^-3, the antifungal activity of carbon samples was found to decrease with increasing carbonization temperature. Below 25mg·cm^-3, however, the increase in carbonization temperature did not affect the decrease in antifungal activity; that is, there was no difference among the antifungal activity of different carbon sample.