Photocatalytic generation of silver nanoparticles and application to the antibacterial functionalization of textile fabrics

International audience; An all-inorganic protocol, entirely based on wet chemistry methods, has been studied to form nanosized Ag metallic particles in solution Liquid suspensions of anatase TiO(2) nanocrystallites have first been prepared through a sal-gel route Silver nanoparticles (NPs) have then been generated through the photocatalytic reduction of a silver salt, diluted in TiO(2) liquid suspensions, and exposed to UV light, which results in the formation of a mixed Ag-TiO(2) suspension. Mechanisms occurring in solutions during the metallization step and a post-metallization ageing period have been studied by UV/vis spectroscopy Chemico-structural and morphological properties of resulting silver NPs have been studied by transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Ag-TiO(2) suspensions have then been impregnated on cotton-based textile samples and the antibacterial activity of so-functionalized textiles has been studied with respect to E colt and L. innocua bacteria It is shown that, while TiO(2) NPs attached to textile fibres have no antibacterial activity, functionalized textiles exhibit a strong antibacterial activity due to Ag NPs, and this activity can be reached for a large range of impregnated silver amounts. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved