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Monolithic Ceramic Foams for Ultrafast Photocatalytic Inactivation of Bacteria
Author(s) -
Wu Pinggui,
Xie Rongcai,
Imlay Kari,
Shang Jian Ku
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1551-2916.2009.03069.x
Subject(s) - photocatalysis , titanium dioxide , antimicrobial , calcination , polyurethane , materials science , bacteria , chemical engineering , chemistry , catalysis , composite material , organic chemistry , biology , engineering , genetics
Palladium‐modified nitrogen‐doped titanium dioxide (TiON/PdO) foams were synthesized by a sol–gel process on a polyurethane foam template. The TiON/PdO foam was tested for microbial killing using Escherichia coli cells as a target. Under visible‐light illumination, the TiON/PdO foam displayed a strong antimicrobial effect on the bacteria cells in water. The antimicrobial effect was found to be dependent on the palladium content and the calcination temperature. In a flow‐through dynamic photoreactor, the new photocatalyst efficiently inactivated E. coli within a short contact time (<1 min), the shortest ever reported for the photocatalytic killing of bacteria. The strong antimicrobial functions of the TiON/PdO foam were related to charge trapping by PdO and the high contact efficiency of the foam structure.