Synthesis of LTA zeolite for bacterial adhesion

High affinity and adhesion capacity for Gram-positive bacteria on minerals has been widely studied. In this work the adhesion of bacteria on synthesized zeolite has been studied. The Zeolite Linde Type A (LTA) has been synthesized using hydrothermal route using processing parameters to obtain low cost materials. For adhesion studies Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis were used as Gram-positive bacteria, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are used as Gram-negative bacteria. X-ray diffraction, environmental scanning electron microscope and attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were used to characterize the synthesized zeolite. To evaluate the bacterial adhesion to zeolite LTA the hydrophobicity and surface properties are examined using contact angle measurement. (Author)