Effect of Nitrogen Doping on the Photocatalytic Properties and Antibiofilm Efficacy of Reduced TiO Nanoparticles.

Nanomaterial-mediated antibacterial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) emerges as a promising treatment against antibiotic-resistant bacterial biofilms. Specifically, titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO NPs) are being investigated as photosensitizers in aPDT to address biofilm related diseases. To enhance their photocatalytic performance in the visible spectral range for biomedical applications, various strategies have been adopted, including reduction of TiO NPs. However, despite improvements in visible-light photoactivity, reduced TiO NPs have yet to reach their expected performance primarily due to the instability of oxygen vacancies and their tendency to reoxidize easily. To address this, we present a two-step approach to fabricate highly visible-light active and stable TiO NP photocatalysts, involving nitrogen doping followed by a magnesium-assisted reductive annealing process. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of the synthesized reduced nitrogen-doped TiO NPs (H:Mg-N-TiO NPs) reveals that the presence of nitrogen stabilizes oxygen vacancies and reduced Ti species, leading to increased production of reactive oxygen species under visible-light excitation. The improved aPDT efficiency translates to a 3-fold enhancement in the antibiofilm activity of nitrogen-doped compared to undoped reduced TiO NPs against both Gram-positive () and Gram-negative (, ) oral pathogens. These results underscore the potential of H:Mg-N-TiO NPs in aPDT for combating bacterial biofilms effectively.