Bio-Inspired Metal Oxide Nanostructures for Photocatalytic Disinfection

Abstract

Interest in photocatalytic disinfection synthesis has increased in recent years with the use of different semiconductor photoreceptors. While much attention has been given to the photocatalytic inactivation process, researchers have shifted to focusing on bio-inspired metal oxide materials for photocatalytic inactivation in recent years. Bio-inspired metal oxide photocatalysts have unique advantages with special emphasis being placed on its highly earth abundance, economic cost of production, eco-friendliness, simple structure and easy to synthesize. Besides that, bio-inspired metal oxide photocatalysts has also been applied extensively for the development of emerging areas, such as environmental as well as energy materials. Today, the development of simple and inexpensive bacterial disinfection technology to addresses the peril of waterborne disease in the emerging areas has grown rapidly. This chapter proposes an analysis of recent research activities that involved the use of bio-inspired photocatalytst for the disinfection of water under light radiation. Various nano-structured photocatalytic materials like titanium dioxide (TiO2), zinc oxide (ZnO), iron oxide (Fe2O3), nickel oxide (NiO), etc., are introduced. Material and various bacterial pathogens, photocatalytic and pathogens disinfection mechanism are described in detail. Finally, the progress of novel bio-inspired photocatalysts for the disinfection applications is discussed at the end of this chapter.