Interaction of New-Developed TiO2-Based Photocatalytic Nanoparticles with Pathogenic Microorganisms and Human Dermal and Pulmonary Fibroblasts

Abstract

TiO2-based photocatalysts were obtained during previous years in order to limit pollution and to ease human daily living conditions due to their special properties. However, obtaining biocompatible photocatalysts is still a key problem, and the mechanism of their toxicity recently received increased attention. Two types of TiO2 nanoparticles co-doped with 1% of iron and nitrogen (TiO2-1% Fe–N) atoms were synthesized in hydrothermal conditions at pH of 8.5 (HT1) and 5.5 (HT2), and their antimicrobial activity and cytotoxic effects exerted on human pulmonary and dermal fibroblasts were assessed. These particles exhibited significant microbicidal and anti-biofilm activity, suggesting their potential application for microbial decontamination of different environments. In addition, our results demonstrated the biocompatibility of TiO2-1% Fe–N nanoparticles at low doses on lung and dermal cells, which may initiate oxidative stress through dose accumulation. Although no significant changes were observed between the two tested photocatalysts, the biological response was cell type specific and time- and dose-dependent; the lung cells proved to be more sensitive to nanoparticle exposure. Taken together, these experimental data provide useful information for future photocatalytic applications in the industrial, food, pharmaceutical, and medical fields.

Biofilms in the Food Industry: Health Aspects and Control Methods

“…Diverse types of nanoparticles show photocatalytic properties, where the absorption of an specific wavelength is used for generating (accelerating) a chemical reaction, including destruction of microbial cells, generally due to reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation ( Nica et al, 2017 ). In this sense, TiO 2 NPs, containing 1% Fe and N, structured as a thin layer on a polystyrene surface, have demonstrated inactivation of bacterial cells ( E. coli, Enterococcus faecalis, P. aeruginosa, S. aureus ) after sun light exposure.…”

Colloidal Metal Oxide Nanoparticles Prepared by Laser Ablation Technique and Their Antibacterial Test

“…In recent years with the increasing applications of nanotechnology, nanomaterials like iron oxide (Fe 3 O 4 ), titanium oxide (TiO 2 ), and zinc oxide (ZnO) have been observed to show great properties for applications in heavy metals removal from polluted water, industrial wastewater treatment, biomedicine and photocatalysts [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. This feature is due to properties of nanoparticles as nano-adsorbents removing heavy ions and because of their size having the ability to interact with light, yielding the confinement of light inside the nanoparticles (NPs) which generates new non-linear phenomena such as the collective oscillations of conduction band electrons in spherical metal nanoparticles excited by external electromagnetic field, so-called localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR).…”

Development and Biocompatibility Evaluation of Photocatalytic TiO2/Reduced Graphene Oxide-Based Nanoparticles Designed for Self-Cleaning Purposes

“…As described in Section 4.3 . Characterization of Photocatalysts of this article, ABS is a measure of the photocatalytic efficiency of sample, higher negative values indicating better activity [ 47 ]. One can observe that in 150 min one half of MB amount was decomposed by the photocatalytic substrate (sample B) under UV irradiation and nearly 30% under visible light exposure.…”