Functional nanomaterials with antibacterial and antiviral activity

xx x The present invention relates to nanomaterials comprised of metal oxides associated with cationic metals having antibacterial activity. In particular, the present invention relates to nanocrystalline compounds of formula (I): AO-(L-Men+) i, (I) where AOrepresents the metal oxide or metalloid oxide, with x=1 or 2; Me11"1" is a metal ion having antibacterial activity, with n=1 or 2; L is a bifunctional molecule, either organic or organometallic, capable of binding simultaneously with the metal oxide or metalloid oxide and the metal ion Men+; and i represents the number of L-Men+groups bound to a AOnanoparticle.