Titanium dioxide-based antibacterial surfaces for water treatment

The field of water disinfection has gained much interest since waterborne diseases caused by pathogenic microorganisms directly endanger human health. Antibacterial surfaces offer a new, ecofriendly technique to reduce the harmful disinfection byproducts that form in medical and food processing industries. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) photocatalysts have been extensively studied to prepare antibacterial surfaces due to their environmentally favorable properties. The studies demonstrate TiO2 improves the efficiency of disinfection by the effective inactivation of pathogenic microorganisms (i.e., Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas putida, and Listeria innocua). TiO2 photocatalysts decompose natural algal toxins such as microcystin-LR and cylindrospermopsin under solar light irradiation. On the basis of literature review, these antibacterial surfaces may be applied to hospital, food, ceramic, and building industries or to environmental remediation where bacteria inactivation is required to ensure the safety of human health and the environment.