Photocatalytic disinfection using titanium dioxide: spectrum and mechanism of antimicrobial activity

By H. Foster, Iram B. Ditta, Sajnu Varghese, A. Steele. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 2011

1,062 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The photocatalytic properties of titanium dioxide are well known and have many applications including the removal of organic contaminants and production of self-cleaning glass. There is an increasing interest in the application of the photocatalytic properties of TiO2 for disinfection of surfaces, air and water. Reviews of the applications of photocatalysis in disinfection (Gamage and Zhang 2010; Chong et al., Wat Res 44(10):2997–3027, 2010) and of modelling of TiO2 action have recently been published (Dalrymple et al. , Appl Catal B 98(1–2):27–38, 2010). In this review, we give an overview of the effects of photoactivated TiO2 on microorganisms. The activity has been shown to be capable of killing a wide range of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, filamentous and unicellular fungi, algae, protozoa, mammalian viruses and bacteriophage. Resting stages, particularly bacterial endospores, fungal spores and protozoan cysts, are generally more resistant than the vegetative forms, possibly due to the increased cell wall thickness. The killing mechanism involves degradation of the cell wall and cytoplasmic membrane due to the production of reactive oxygen species such as hydroxyl radicals and hydrogen peroxide. This initially leads to leakage of cellular contents then cell lysis and may be followed by complete mineralisation of the organism. Killing is most efficient when there is close contact between the organisms and the TiO2 catalyst. The killing activity is enhanced by the presence of other antimicrobial agents such as Cu and Ag.

Subfields: Biomedical Engineering, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/bcf4bf26686826b048dd78057ca111c9c39754ed

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In Biomedical Engineering

1. Xiaoying Chen
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In Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

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2. Wenxin Zhu
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Citations in the corpus

• Mechanism insight into rapid photocatalytic disinfection of Salmonella based on vanadate QDs-interspersed g-C3N4 heterostructures (2018, background): “It was found that the ROS first attacked the bacterial cells membrane, making the cell membrane become deformed, and then disrupted the cell metabolism through bacterial contents, and ultimately killed all of the bacteria [45,52].”
• Antibacterial Activity of TiO2 Photocatalyst Alone or in Coatings on E. coli: The Influence of Methodological Aspects (2014, result): “The present finding is in full agreement with the inhibitory effect of various ions and organic compounds on photocatalytic disinfection, which is widely reported in the literature [34,37,56,65,66].”
• Review of titanium surface modification techniques and coatings for antibacterial applications. (2019, background): “active oxygen species can destroy the outer membrane of bacterial cells.[140,141]”
• The antimicrobial activity of nanoparticles: present situation and prospects for the future (2017, neutral): “The final stage is cell degradation.(112)”
• Antimicrobial strategies centered around reactive oxygen species--bactericidal antibiotics, photodynamic therapy, and beyond. (2013, background): “This subject area has recently been comprehensively reviewed (McCullagh et al., 2007; Foster et al., 2011), and the effect of key variables on the effectiveness has been studied (Cushnie et al.”
• An Overview of Nanomaterials for Water and Wastewater Treatment (2016, background): “The photocatalytic properties of TiO 2 NPs are able to kill a wide array of microorganisms, such as Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, as well as fungi, algae, protozoa, and viruses [63].”
• Nano-Strategies to Fight Multidrug Resistant Bacteria—“A Battle of the Titans” (2018, background): “Indeed, titanium dioxide NPs were shown to adhere to the surface of the bacterial cell and trigger the production of ROS, which in turns lead to damage of the structure of cellular components and consequent cell death (Foster et al., 2011).”