Authors: Renyuan Deng, Xiangmei Liu, Jin Huang, Yi Wang, Dafu Chen, Chaofeng Wang, Khin Wee Lai, Congyang Mao, Guangrong Qian, Yufeng Zheng, Shuilin Wu
Published: 2025-03-24
Source: Full article
AbstractContact infection is accelerating the spread of pathogenic bacteria, threatening the health of people all over the world. Herein, photoresponsive TiO2/N‐doped ZnO (TiO2/N‐ZnO) nanofilms are synthesized using atomic layer deposition and the sol–gel method to rapidly kill bacteria on electronic touch screens by strengthened photocatalytic sterilization. The enhancement of the photocatalytic performance of TiO2/ZnO is significantly attributed to the oxygen vacancy and crystal defect induced by nitrogen element doping, leading to the production of an increased quantity of reactive oxygen species from TiO2/N‐ZnO. Further, when bacteria engage with the nanofilm, there is an occurrence of electron transfer between the TiO2/N‐ZnO and the bacterial film, thereby consequently disturbing the electron equilibrium on the bacterial film. Upon exposure to simulated sunlight for a duration of 3 min (for Staphylococcus aureus; S. aureus) or 10 min (for Escherichia coli; E. coli), TiO2/N‐ZnO demonstrates superior antibacterial effects (>95%) on both bacterial strains. With the illumination time extended to 20 min, the antibacterial efficacy of TiO2/N‐ZnO against S. aureus and E. coli reaches up to 100%. Concurrently, the TiO2/N‐ZnO nanofilms demonstrate commendable light transmittance (>85%) and biocompatibility. As such, this study may offer a potential methodology for antimicrobial applications in electronic touch screens.