| Summary: | Nanoparticulate surfaces possessing antimicrobial and
fungicidal properties under visible light illumination have
found wide applications in a number of fields. In this study,
titania nanotubes, as well as titania compact films were
designed with pure Cu2O crystals in a mildly acidic copper
acetate solution using a simple alternating current (AC)
deposition approach. In this way, the thermally oxidized Ti
substrate was coated by densely packed pyramidal and bipyramidal
shaped Cu2O crystals with dominant (111)
planes and investigated against several types of fungi and
bacteria. For comparison, TiO2 nanotube (TiNT) films were
also decorated with similar crystals and tested. The results
showed that, compared to bare TiO2 films, both Cu2O-in-
TiNT and Cu2O-on-TiO2 heterostructures exhibited
remarkably enhanced activity against tested fungi and
bacteria. We also demonstrated that the high photoactivity
of these crystals remained even after 50 h stability tests
under bright light illumination. The results obtained from
in vitro tests indicated that Cu2O-in/on-TiO2 heterostructures
show promise as visible light driven antimicrobial
materials.
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