Evaluation of bactericidal activity of TiO2 photocatalysts: a comparative study of laboratory-made and commercial TiO2 samples

Abstract

Titanium dioxide photocatalysts were synthesized by sol-gel process, by varying the reaction conditions, acids, water content, and trivalent (Al, B) dopants. The characterizations of products were determined by XRD, SEM, BET, and UV-vis spectroscopy. The samples were mainly amorphous with a small amount of anatase, rutile, or a mixture of anatase and rutile, with a crystallite sizes of about 5-10 nm. The antibacterial activity of the synthesized TiO2 samples were investigated qualitatively and semi-quantitatively. Five types of bacteria, Escherichia coli ATCC25922, Psudomonas aeruginosa ATCC27853,Bacillus subtilis BGA, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC25923, and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) DMST 2054, were used for the inactivation experiment employing the agar dilution method. All the synthesized samples showed inactivation activity with varying degree of efficiency. Two of them showed a much higher activity than Degussa P25.

Keywords

• titanium dioxide photocatalyst
• antibacterial activity
• photocatalytic process
• sol-gel method
• amorphous titanium dioxide