Enhanced Photocatalytic and Antibacterial Activities of K2Ti6O13 Nanowires Induced by Copper Doping

Abstract

Cu-doped K2Ti6O13 (Cu–KTO) nanowires were prepared using a combination of sol–gel and hydrothermal methods to improve the photocatalytic and antibacterial performance of K2Ti6O13 (KTO) nanowires. The Cu–KTO nanowires maintained the monoclinic structure of KTO. The Cu2+ ions could enter into the lattice of KTO by substituting for certain Ti4+ ions and cause the formation of defects and oxygen vacancies. The UV–Visible absorption spectra showed that after Cu doping, the absorption edge of KTO moved to the visible region, indicating that the band gap decreased and the ability to absorb visible light was acquired. The photocatalytic properties of the Cu–KTO nanowires with different doping amounts were assessed by simulating the photodegradation of rhodamine B (RhB) under simulated sunlight irradiation. The 1.0 mol% Cu–KTO nanowires showed the best photocatalytic performance, and 91% of RhB was decomposed by these nanowires (the catalyst dose was only 0.3 g/L) within 5 h. The performance of the Cu–KTO nanowires was much better than that of the KTO nanowires. The Cu–KTO nanowires also showed high antibacterial activity for Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) of up to 99.9%, which was higher than that of the pure KTO samples. Results proved that Cu doping is an effective means to develop multifunctional KTO nanomaterials. It can be used to degrade organic pollutants and remove harmful bacteria simultaneously in water environments.

Synergistic effect of Ag and Cu on improving in vitro biological properties of K2Ti6O13 nanowires for potential biomedical applications

“…40-04032), the diffraction peaks of all samples at (200), ( 110), (310), (311), (31-2), (40-4), ( 602), (020), ( 422) and ( 206) planes matched well with the characteristic those of monoclinic K 2 Ti 6 O 13 phase. It was obvious that Ag doping, Cu doping or Ag-Cu co-doping did not significantly change the crystal structure of KTO, which was in good accordance with the previous published reports [18,32]. In addition, no peak related to Cu or Ag was observed in the diffraction patterns of doped KTO samples, indicating that Cu ions and Ag ions entered the lattice of KTO and replaced partial Ti ions [36,37].…”

“…All samples in this work were synthesized by twostep method of sol-gel and hydrothermal. Firstly, pure, Cu doped, Ag doped and Ag-Cu co-doped TiO 2 nanoparticles were synthesized using the sol-gel method [32]. In sol-gel process, for doped samples, Cu(NO 3 ) 2 •xH 2 O or/and AgNO 3 were mixed with C 16 H 36 O 4 Ti at Cu/Ti, Ag/Ti and (Cu + Ag)/Ti mole ratio of 1.0%, respectively.…”

Synergistic effects of Mg doping on TiO2 for improved toxic gas sensing performance at room temperature

“…The charge difference between Mg 2+ and Ti 4+ can disrupt Ti-O-Ti bonds and generate new Mg-O-Ti bonds, resulting in decreased peak intensity of Raman-active modes [44]. Minor differences in ionic radii between Mg 2+ and Ti 4+ can cause lattice contraction and a slight peak shift to higher wavenumbers [45][46][47].…”

Versatile Titanates: Classification, Property, Preparation, and Sustainable Energy Catalysis

“…Fortunately, some useful means may be employed to elevate light‐harvesting efficiency (η1) and expand light response range to visible light that occupies 46% of the solar spectrum, such as defect construction, metal deposition, etc. [ 42–44 ] For K 2 Ti 6 O 13 , the top of VB and the bottom of CB are dominated by O 2p states and Ti 3d states, respectively, while the K 4s states hardly contribute to the VB and CB. Chen et al.…”