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Construction of one-dimensional pn heterojunction TiO2/CuO composite with hierarchical structure and its dual efficient inactivation of Escherichia coli

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Abstract

Photocatalytic antimicrobial is a promising advanced oxidation antibacterial technology that can utilize solar energy to achieve antibacterial function. However, due to the influence of diurnal variation, photocatalytic antimicrobials cannot maintain a continuous antibacterial effect in practical applications. Herein, a TiO2 fiber with CuO particle (TiO2/CuO) pn-type heterojunction with dual inactivation of Escherichia coli has been designed and prepared for water treatment. The formation of pn heterojunction and its high efficiency of charge separation and transfer were confirmed through HRTEM, FESEM, UV–Vis and photoelectrochemical tests, while the charge separation process of the heterojunction under visible-light irradiation was systematically investigated. The results showed that the antimicrobial rate of TiO2/CuO composites was 64.7% at 10 min under dark conditions. In contrast, under light exposure, the antibacterial rate could reach 96.2% for 10 min and 100% for 20 min. This research holds promise for advancing the construction of pn heterojunctions and provides a novel insight into reducing the dependence of photocatalytic antimicrobials on light.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate eceshi (www.eceshi.com) for the EPR, XRD and TEM analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Powder Metallurgy and Advanced Ceramics, School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Xueyuan Road 30, Haidian District, Beijing, 100083, China

    Xiaofeng Dong, Junwei Huang, Haiqing Li, Changchun Ge & Xiaona Ren

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  1. Xiaofeng Dong
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  2. Junwei Huang
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  3. Haiqing Li
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  4. Changchun Ge
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  5. Xiaona Ren
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Contributions

Xiaofeng Dong (first author) was involved in the conceptualization, methodology, software, experiment, formal analysis and writing—original draft; Junwei Huang (author 2) assisted in the data curation and writing—original draft; Haiqing Li (author 3) contributed to the visualization and experiment; Changchun Ge (corresponding author 1) contributed to the resources and supervision; Xiaona Ren (corresponding author 2) was involved in the conceptualization, resources, supervision and writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Changchun Ge or Xiaona Ren.

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Dong, X., Huang, J., Li, H. et al. Construction of one-dimensional pn heterojunction TiO2/CuO composite with hierarchical structure and its dual efficient inactivation of Escherichia coli. J Mater Sci 59, 11480–11496 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-024-09842-8

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