ABSTRACT
Binary zinc oxide (ZnO) nanocomposites with different noble metals, silver (Ag) and ruthenium (Ru), were prepared from an aqueous leaf extract of Callistemon viminalis. The biosynthesized photocatalysts were characterized and examined for their photocatalytic disinfection against Escherichia coli isolated from hospital wastewater. The influence of the different noble metals showed a difference in physicochemical characteristics and photocatalytic efficiency between Ag-ZnO and Ru-ZnO. The photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and photocatalytic disinfection were found to be in the order Ag-ZnO > Ru-ZnO > ZnO. The photocatalytic disinfection of Ag-ZnO reached a 75% reduction in 60 min, compared to 34 and 9% reductions of Ru-ZnO and ZnO, respectively. The kinetic reaction rate for the photocatalytic disinfection of Ag-ZnO was found to be 2.8 times higher than that of Ru-ZnO. The outstanding photocatalytic activity of Ag-ZnO over Ru-ZnO was attributed to higher crystallinity, greater UVA adsorption capacity, smaller particle size, and the additional antimicrobial effect of Ag itself. The C. viminalis-mediated Ag-ZnO nanocomposites can be a potential candidate for photocatalytic disinfection of drug-resistant E. coli in hospital wastewater.
ABSTRACT
MXenes, a new family of two-dimensional transition metal carbides or nitrides, have attracted tremendous attention for various applications due to their unique properties such as good electrical conductivity, hydrophilicity, and ion intercalability. In this work, Ti3C2 MXene, or MX, is converted to MX-TiO2 composites using a simple and rapid microwave hydrothermal treatment in HCl/NaCl mixture solution that induces formation of fine TiO2 particles on the MX parent structure and imparts photocatalytic activity to the resulting MX-TiO2 composites. The composites were used for enrofloxacin (ENR), a frequently found contaminating antibiotic, removal from water. The relative amount of the MX and TiO2 can be controlled by controlling the hydrothermal temperature resulting in composites with tunable adsorption/photocatalytic properties. NaCl addition was found to play important role as composites synthesized without NaCl could not adsorb enrofloxacin well. Adding NaCl into the hydrothermal treatment causes sodium ions to be simultaneously intercalated into the composite structure, improving ENR adsorption greatly from 1 to 6 mg ENR/g composite. It also slows down the MX to TiO2 conversion leading to a smaller and more uniform distribution of TiO2 particles on the structure. MX-TiO2/NaCl composites, which have sodium intercalated in their structures, showed both higher ENR adsorption and photocatalytic activity than composites without NaCl despite the latter having higher TiO2 content. Adsorbed ENR on the composites can be efficiently degraded by free radicals generated from the photoexcited TiO2 particles, leading to high photocatalytic degradation efficiency. This demonstrates the synergetic effect between adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of the synthesized compounds.
Subject(s)
Anti-Bacterial Agents , Water , Catalysis , Enrofloxacin , Sodium , Titanium , Water/chemistryABSTRACT
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) photocatalytic reaction has great potential for the disinfection of harmful pathogens. However, the disinfection mechanisms of TiO2 photocatalysis are not yet well-known for fungi and protozoa. In this work, the photocatalytic disinfection mechanism of Fusarium monoliforme and Aspergillus niger under low intensity UVA light (365nm, <10W/m2) was studied at the ultrastructural level. Photocatalytic treatments showed that the photocatalytic oxidation of 10% TiO2 based paint was efficacious in the complete disinfection of F. monoliforme under low intensity UVA light. No growth of F. monoliforme was observed on agar plate in the subsequent dark. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of F. monoliforme exposed to TiO2 photocatalysis treatment showed a distinct damage to electron-dense outer cell wall, but not to an underlying electron-transparent layer cell wall. The TEM image revealed that the UVA-light only did not damage cell wall, cell membrane and cellular organelles. Unlike, A. niger was more sensitive to UVA-light. Serious destructions of cell membrane and cellular organelles were shown in A. niger exposed to UVA-light only and photocatalytic treatments. However, morphological change in A. niger cell wall was only observed in photocatalytic treatment. Changes to the outermost melanin like layer and cell wall of A. niger spore due to photocatalytic treatment were greatly apparent while the intracellular organelles of A. niger spore were not affected. Therefore, regrowth of A. niger on agar plate was expected from the germination of A. niger spore in the subsequent dark. These observations give a better understanding of the photocatalytic disinfection mechanism toward fungi.
