Comparative study of classic and emerging photocatalytic materials in their bactericidal and degradative activity

Abstract

In this study, we comparatively analyzed traditional photocatalyst materials like TiO2 and ZnO alongside more recently considered ones, such as BiOBr and BiOI. We investigated their bactericidal activities against two control species with different types of cell walls: Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) and Enterococcus faecalis (ATCC 25212), under identicalconditions. Additionally, we assessed the adsorptive and photocatalytic capabilities of these materials for the removal and remediation of the antibiotic norfloxacin (NFX). We measured the concentration of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) generated by the most effective bactericidal materials. The results indicate that the more modern materials, BiOBr and BiOI, exhibitedhigher bactericidal efficiency against both types of bacteria, as well as superior adsorptive capacity (100% for BiOI) and photocatalytic activity (100% for BiOBr) for the studied antibiotic.