Modified photodeposition of uniform Ag nanoparticles on TiO2 with superior catalytic and antibacterial activities

Abstract

Photocatalytic reduction is a facile and effective route to deposit Ag nanoparticles (NPs) on TiO 2 . Nevertheless, it is difficult to produce Ag NPs that have small particle size and uniform distribution on TiO 2 to form core-shell structure TiO 2 @Ag composites by straightforward photodeposition. In this study, monodisperse TiO 2 spheres composed of anatase nanocrystals were directly employed as templates to deposit small and homogeneously dispersed Ag NPs by modified photodeposition procedure. To prove the feasibility of the innovative method, we evaluated the catalytic performance and bactericidal efficacy of the as-prepared samples based on the characterizations, since there is strong dependence between size and dispersion of Ag NPs and catalytic performance and inhibition of bacterial growth, where smaller and more highly dispersed Ag NPs displayed better antimicrobial and catalytic properties. The results indicate that the modified photodeposition route can effectively prevent TiO 2 spheres themselves from aggregating and Ag NPs from rapid overgrowing on the TiO 2 surface in the deposition process. The superior bactericidal and catalytic properties of the TiO 2 @Ag composites are largely attributed to the small and highly dispersed Ag NPs on TiO 2 spheres. Graphical Abstract

Hydrothermal preparation of TiO2-Ag nanoparticles and its antimicrobial performance against human pathogenic microbial cells in water

“…Many efforts were made to synthesise silver-coated titanium dioxide (Ag@TiO 2 ) materials. TiO 2 coated with silver has been prepared by the photodeposition method to improve its catalytic and antimicrobial properties (Ma et al, 2015).…”