Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalytic Antimicrobial Mechanisms and Application Prospects

Wenlan Wang

doi:10.6919/

Authors

Wenlan Wang School of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom (UK)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6919/

Keywords:

Photocatalytic inactivation, reactive oxygen species, charge carrier dynamics, sustainable applications, antimicrobial kinetics, irradiation dose, catalytic surface density.

Abstract

Due to the emergence of antibiotic resistance, the traditional antimicrobial approach to fight bacteria has become less effective and hence, interest in the light-driven physicochemical inactivation methods has grown. The photocatalytic systems based on semiconductors have demonstrated excellent antibacterial activity under visible light irradiation with high chemical stability, biocompatibility and efficient photogenerated charge carrier dynamics. This paper systematically explains the different mechanisms of photo-microbial inactivation such as generation of ROS, interfacial redox reactions, and membrane disruption pathway as well as surface engineering and thin film fabrication strategies. Comparative analysis of the coatings obtained by various physico-chemical methods (solution-derived hydrolysis-condensation routes and vapour deposition methods) shows that there are significant differences in the antimicrobial kinetics, structural stability, and photoresponse behaviour of these coatings. Experimental results have shown good inhibitory activity of this system against representative Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, and the inhibitory activity has increased with the increase of the irradiation dose and the density of the catalytic surface. Despite the still unsolved issues such as the lack of understanding of photoactivated inorganic antibacterial systems' non-photocatalytic antibacterial effects and the potential difficulties in large-scale production, these systems offer tremendous potential for sustainable applications in biomedical engineering, public health infrastructure and environmental control.

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