Antibacterial activity of single crystalline silver-doped anatase TiO2 nanowire arrays

Well-ordered, one-dimensional silver-doped anatase TiO2 nanowire (AgNW) arrays have been prepared through a hydrothermal growth process on the sputtering-deposited AgTi layers. Electron microscope analyses reveal that the as-synthesized AgNW arrays exhibit a single crystalline phase with highly uniform morphologies, diameters ranging from 85 to 95 nm, and lengths of about 11 mu m. Silver is found to be doped into TiO2 nanowire evenly and mainly exists in the zerovalent state. The AgNW arrays show excellent efficient antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli (E. coli), and all of the bacteria can be killed within 1 h. Additionally, the AgNW arrays can still kill E. coli after immersion for 60 days, suggesting the long-term antibacterial property. The technique reported here is environmental friendly for formation of silver-containing nanostructure without using any toxic organic solvents. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.