Unraveling the antimicrobial activity of CuS functionalized titanates under visible LED light irradiation.

Titanate nanotubes (TNs) functionalized with CuS nanoparticles using the microwave-assisted hydrothermal method were characterized via XRD, Raman spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectrophotometry, and N physisorption. The as-synthesized CuS/TNs had anatase as the main crystalline phase and the band-gap energy was in the visible region, 2.9 eV.

Novel polypropylene-TiO:Bi spherical floater for the efficient photocatalytic degradation of the recalcitrant 2,4,6-TCP herbicide.

In this work, spherical photocatalytic floaters were fabricated by depositing TiO:Bi (TBi) particles on polypropylene (PP) spheres (recycled from beer cans). These particles were deposited on the sphere (TBi-sphere) by the spray coating technique and evaluated their performance for the photocatalytic degradation of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (2,4,6-TCP) herbicide. SEM images demonstrated that the BTi powders consisted in conglomerated grains with sizes of 20-80 nm and the analysis by X-ray diffraction confirmed the presence of rutile and anatase phases in the BTi.

Photo-assisted inactivation of Escherichia coli bacteria by silver functionalized titanate nanotubes, Ag/HTiO·HO.

One-dimensional titanate nanotubes (HTiO·HO) functionalized with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) exhibited unique properties for the effective inactivation of the Gram-negative Escherichia coli within 45 minutes under irradiation using a 65 W halogen lamp. The pathway of the photo-assisted catalytic inactivation was examined by SEM and TEM using a reproducible biological protocol for sample preparations. The membrane integrity of the bacteria was damaged due to the oxidative stress caused by the reactive oxygen species, the bacteriostatic effect of the highly-dispersed-surface AgNPs (∼5 nm) and the sharp nanotube penetration that induced the cell death.