Bacterial adhesion and inactivation on Ag decorated TiO2-nanotubes under visible light: Effect of the nanotubes geometry on the photocatalytic activity

This study investigates the effect of the diameter of TiO2 nanotubes and silver decorated nanotubes on optical properties and photocatalytic inactivation of Escherichia coli under visible light. The TiO2 nanotubes (TiO2 -NTs) were prepared using the electrochemical method varying the anodization potential starting from 20 V until 70 V. The Ag nanoparticles were carried out using the photoreduction process under the same experimental conditions. The diameter size was determined using the scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). TiO2-NTs diameter reached similar to 100 nm at 70 V. Transmission electronic microscopy (TEM) imaging confirmed the TiO2-NTs surface decoration by silver nanoparticles. The Ag-NPs average size was found to be equal to 8 nm. The X-Ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirm that all TiO2-NTs crystallize in the anatase phases regardless the used anodization potential. The decrease of the photoluminescence (PL) intensity of Ag NPs decorated TiO2-NTs indicates the decrease of the specific area when the nanotubes diameter increases. The UV-vis absorbance show that the absorption edges was bleu shifted with the increasing of nanotubes diameter, which can be explained by the increase of the crystallites average size. The bacterial adhesion and inactivation tests were carried in the dark and under light. Bacteria were seen to adhere on TiO2-NTs in the dark; however, under light the bacteria were killed before they establish a strong contact with the TiO2-NTs and Ag/TiO2-NTs surfaces. Bacterial inactivation kinetics were faster when the anodizing potential of the NTs-preparation increases. A total bacterial inactivation was obtained on similar to 100 nm nanotubes diameter within 90 min. This result was attributed to the enhancement of the TNTs crystallinity leading to reduced surface defects. Redox catalysis was seen to occur under light on the TiO2-NTs and Ag/TiO2-NTs. the photo-induced antibacterial activity on the AgO/Ag2O decorated TiO2-NTs was attributed to the interfacial charge transfer mechanism (IFCT).