Chapter 2
Photo-Assisted Antimicrobial Activity
of Transition Metal Oxides
Rajini P. Antony, L. K. Preethi, and Tom Mathews
Abstract Photocatalysis is a widely accepted technology which finds enormous
applications in the field of fuel production, water remediation, environmental
cleaning, self-cleaning coatings, CO 2 sequestration and microbial disinfection.
Photo assisted heterogeneous catalysis is the major route employed for all the
above applications where transition metal based semiconducting materials are used
for the light assisted production of reactive oxygen species. This in turn finds an
important application in microbial destruction at different indoor and outdoor level.
The increase in environmental pollution urges the need of a simple and cost-effective
route of microbial inactivation. Thus, semiconductor-based photo assisted bacterial
inactivation is an appropriate strategy which can be upscaled for commercial application. The present chapter tries to provide physical insights on the photocatalytic
based microbial inactivation process. The chapter mainly discusses the basic principle of photocatalysis and mechanism behind bacterial disinfection. Thereafter, the
chapter focuses on the discussion of selected transition metals oxides such as TiO 2 ,
ZnO and CuO for bacterial disinfection studies and different types of modification
methods employed for the improvement of their antibacterial efficiency.
Keywords Bacterial disinfection · Semiconductors · TiO 2 · ZnO · CuO ·
Photocatalysis
R. P. Antony
Water and Steam Chemistry Division, BARC – F, Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, India
L. K. Preethi
Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology,
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
T. Mathews (*)
Thin Films and Coatings Section, Surface and Nanoscience Division, Materials Science Group,
Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, India
e-mail: tom@igcar.gov.in
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
S. Rajendran et al. (eds.), Metal, Metal-Oxides and Metal-Organic Frameworks for
Environmental Remediation, Environmental Chemistry for a Sustainable World 64,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68976-6_2
29
Photo-Assisted Antimicrobial Activity
of Transition Metal Oxides
Rajini P. Antony, L. K. Preethi, and Tom Mathews
Abstract Photocatalysis is a widely accepted technology which finds enormous
applications in the field of fuel production, water remediation, environmental
cleaning, self-cleaning coatings, CO 2 sequestration and microbial disinfection.
Photo assisted heterogeneous catalysis is the major route employed for all the
above applications where transition metal based semiconducting materials are used
for the light assisted production of reactive oxygen species. This in turn finds an
important application in microbial destruction at different indoor and outdoor level.
The increase in environmental pollution urges the need of a simple and cost-effective
route of microbial inactivation. Thus, semiconductor-based photo assisted bacterial
inactivation is an appropriate strategy which can be upscaled for commercial application. The present chapter tries to provide physical insights on the photocatalytic
based microbial inactivation process. The chapter mainly discusses the basic principle of photocatalysis and mechanism behind bacterial disinfection. Thereafter, the
chapter focuses on the discussion of selected transition metals oxides such as TiO 2 ,
ZnO and CuO for bacterial disinfection studies and different types of modification
methods employed for the improvement of their antibacterial efficiency.
Keywords Bacterial disinfection · Semiconductors · TiO 2 · ZnO · CuO ·
Photocatalysis
R. P. Antony
Water and Steam Chemistry Division, BARC – F, Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, India
L. K. Preethi
Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology,
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
T. Mathews (*)
Thin Films and Coatings Section, Surface and Nanoscience Division, Materials Science Group,
Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, India
e-mail: tom@igcar.gov.in
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
S. Rajendran et al. (eds.), Metal, Metal-Oxides and Metal-Organic Frameworks for
Environmental Remediation, Environmental Chemistry for a Sustainable World 64,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68976-6_2
29