Digitally Printed AgNPs Doped TiO<sub>2</sub> on Commercial Porcelain-Grès Tiles: Synergistic Effects and Continuous Photocatalytic Antibacterial Activity

oleh: Claudia Letizia Bianchi, Giuseppina Cerrato, Bianca Maria Bresolin, Ridha Djellabi, Sami Rtimi

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2020-01-01

Deskripsi

In the present study, we use commercial digitally printed ceramic tiles, functionnalized by AgNPs doped micro&#8722;TiO<sub>2</sub>, to investigate the mechanism of Ag in the continouos photocatalytic antibacterial activity. The novelty of the research lies in the attempt to understand the mechanism of Ag, supported on TiO<sub>2</sub>, able to exhibit the same antibacterial activity of a standard system containing Ag species, but here, totally embedded on the tile surface, and thus not free to move and damage the bacteria cell. UV/vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) of AgNPs&#8722;TiO<sub>2</sub> tiles indicated an enhanced visible light response, wherein a new absorption band was produced around 18,000&#8722;20,000 cm<sup>&#8722;1</sup> (i.e., in the 400&#8722;600 nm range) owing to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of AgNPs. The antibacterial photocatalytic experiments were conducted towards the inactivation of <i>E. coli</i> under solar light and indoor light. It was found that the degradation speed of <i>E. coli</i> in the presence of AgNPs&#8722;TiO<sub>2</sub> tiles is solar light-intensity depending. This justifies the semiconductor behavior of the material. Furthermore, the AgNPs&#8722;TiO<sub>2</sub> tiles exhibit a high ability for the inactivation of <i>E. coli</i> at a high load (10<sup>4</sup>&#8722;10<sup>7</sup> colony-forming unit (CFU)/mL). Additionally, AgNPs&#8722;TiO<sub>2</sub> tiles showed a remarkable antibacterial activity under indoor light, which confirms the good photocatalytic ability of such tiles. On the basis of the reactive oxygen species (ROS) quenching experiments, O<sub>2</sub><sup>&#8226;&#8722;</sup> species and h<sup>+</sup> were more reactive for the inactivation of <i>E. coli</i> rather than <sup>&#8226;</sup>OH species. This is because of the different lifetime (bacteria are more likely oxidized by ROS with longer lifetime); in fact, O<sub>2</sub><sup>&#8226;&#8722;</sup> and h<sup>+</sup> exhibit a longer lifetime compared with <sup>&#8226;</sup>OH species. The generation of H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> as the most stable ROS molecule was also suggested.