Abstract
This study reports on the antibacterial efficacy of both the TiO2 and TiO2/Cu nanoparticles prepared through the sol-gel method. The materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis. The SEM and TEM showed the spherical morphology of the nanoparticles, while EDX and XPS confirmed the incorporation of Cu into the TiO2 nanoparticles. The XRD confirmed the formation of the tetragonal anatase phase of TiO2/Cu while the FTIR revealed the functional groups linked to the doped TiO2 nanoparticles. The thermal stability of TiO2/Cu was found to be lower than pure TiO2. Moreover, TiO2 and the doped TiO2 nanoparticles were notably effective against Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) andEscherichia coli(E. coli); however, the addition of Cu to TiO2 did not have any effect on the antibacterial activity probably due to the lower weight content in the composites. Interestingly, the antibacterial efficiency was determined to be 90 and 80% against B. subtilis and E. coli, respectively.