Supporting the Photocatalysts on ZrO2 : An Effective Way to Enhance the Photocatalytic Activity of SrSnO3

This work was supported by Paraíba State Research Foundation /FAPESQ (grant number 0012/2019), PROINFRA/FINEP/MCTIC and in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001. The authors acknowledge Professor Graeme Paton from the School of Biological Sciences – University of Aberdeen, for the use of the spectrofluorimeter and Ana Rita Ferreira Alves Teixeira for kindly giving in the photocatalytic results with P25 for comparison. CRediT authorship contribution statement Luzia Maria Castro Honorio: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing - original draft. André Luiz Menezes Oliveira: Formal analysis, Writing - original draft. Edson Cavalcanti Silva Filho: . Josy Anteveli Osajima: . Amer Hakki: . Donald E. Macphee: Writing - review & editing. Iêda Maria Garcia Santos: Investigation, Writing - review & editing, Supervision.Peer reviewedPostprin

TiO2/Karaya Composite for Photoinactivation of Bacteria

TiO2/Karaya composite was synthesized by the sol-gel method for the photoinactivation of pathogens. This is the first time that we have reported this composite for an antimicrobial approach. The structure, morphology, and optical properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-rays (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and diffuse reflectance, and the surface area was characterized by the BET method. The XRD and EDS results showed that the TiO2/Karaya composite was successfully stabilized by the crystal structure and pore diameter distribution, indicating a composite of mesoporous nature. Furthermore, antibacterial experiments showed that the TiO2/Karaya composite under light was able to photoinactivate bacteria. Therefore, the composite is a promising candidate for inhibiting the growth of bacteria