Photocatalytic Inactivation of Co-Culture of <i>E. coli</i> and <i>S. epidermidis</i> Using APTES-Modified TiO<sub>2</sub>
Paulina Rokicka-Konieczna,
Agnieszka Wanag,
Agnieszka Sienkiewicz,
Dylan Shun Izuma,
Ewa Ekiert,
Ewelina Kusiak-Nejman,
Chiaki Terashima,
Atsuo Yasumori,
Akira Fujishima,
Antoni W. Morawski
Affiliations
Paulina Rokicka-Konieczna
Department of Inorganic Chemical Technology and Environment Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Technology and Engineering, West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, Pułaskiego 10, 70-322 Szczecin, Poland
Agnieszka Wanag
Department of Inorganic Chemical Technology and Environment Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Technology and Engineering, West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, Pułaskiego 10, 70-322 Szczecin, Poland
Agnieszka Sienkiewicz
Department of Inorganic Chemical Technology and Environment Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Technology and Engineering, West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, Pułaskiego 10, 70-322 Szczecin, Poland
Dylan Shun Izuma
Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, 2641 Yamazaki, Noda, Chiba 278-8510, Japan
Ewa Ekiert
Department of Inorganic Chemical Technology and Environment Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Technology and Engineering, West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, Pułaskiego 10, 70-322 Szczecin, Poland
Ewelina Kusiak-Nejman
Department of Inorganic Chemical Technology and Environment Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Technology and Engineering, West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, Pułaskiego 10, 70-322 Szczecin, Poland
Chiaki Terashima
Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, 2641 Yamazaki, Noda, Chiba 278-8510, Japan
Atsuo Yasumori
Department of Materials Science and Technology, Faculty of Advanced Engineering, Tokyo University of Science, 6-3-1 Niijuku, Katsushika-ku, Tokyo 125-8585, Japan
Akira Fujishima
Research Center for Space System Innovation, Research Institute for Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, 2641 Yamazaki, Noda, Chiba 278-8510, Japan
Antoni W. Morawski
Department of Inorganic Chemical Technology and Environment Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Technology and Engineering, West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, Pułaskiego 10, 70-322 Szczecin, Poland
The presented work shows the antibacterial activity of TiO2 photocatalysts modified by 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES). The APTES-functionalized TiO2 samples were obtained by the solvothermal process followed by calcination. The antibacterial activity of APTES/TiO2 samples was evaluated with two species of bacteria, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus epidermidis, under artificial solar light (ASL) irradiation. The used bacteria are model organisms characterized by negative zeta potential (approx. −44.2 mV for E. coli and −42.3 mV for S. epidermidis). For the first time, the antibacterial properties of APTES-functionalized TiO2 were evaluated against mono- and co-cultured bacteria. The high antibacterial properties characterized the obtained APTES-modified nanomaterials. The best antibacterial properties were presented in the TiO2-4 h-120 °C-300 mM-Ar-300 °C sample (modified with 300 mM of APTES and calcined at 300 °C). The improvement of the antibacterial properties was attributed to a positive value of zeta potential, high surface area, and porous volume.
