Abstract
The recent coronavirus pandemic pointed out the vulnerability of humanity to new emerging infectious diseases. Experts warn that future pandemics may emerge more frequently with greater devastating effects on population health and the world economy. Although viruses are unable to propagate on lifeless surfaces, they can retain their infectivity and spread further on contact with these surfaces. The objective of our study is to analyze photoreactive composite films that exert antiviral effects upon illumination. Reactive plasmonic titanium dioxide-based polymeric nanocomposite film was prepared with a thickness of 1–1.5 µm, which produces reactive oxygen species (ROS) under visible light irradiation (λ ≥ 435 nm). These species are suitable for photooxidation of adsorbed organic molecules (e.g., benzoic acid) on the nanocomposite surface. Moreover, high molecular weight proteins are also degraded or partially oxidized in this process on the composite surface. Since the Ag0-TiO2/polymer composite film used showed excellent reactivity in the formation of OH• radicals, the photocatalytic effect on high molecular weight (M = ∼66.000 Da) bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein was investigated. Given that changes in the structure of the protein were observed upon exposure to light, we assumed virucidal effect of the illuminated photoreactive composite film. We tested this hypothesis using an airborne-transmitted herpesvirus. As a result, we obtained a drastic decrease in infection capability of the virus on the photoreactive surface compared to the control surface.
Highlights
Antimicrobial nanomaterials have achieved a great scientific interest world-wide (Rodríguez-Baño et al, 2013; 2. Grau et al, 2013)
It has been reported that the plasmonic photocatalysts shows enhanced photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation (Veres et al, 2012b; Tallósy et al, 2014a; Tallósy et al, 2016)
It is worth to note that the oxidation state of the AgNPs on TiO2 could be change during the irradiation, this has no effect on the photocatalytic properties, because we reported that plasmonic Ag-TiO2 semiconductors with different oxidation state (Ag0, AgO, Ag2O) of the AgNPs showed similar reaction rates for the photodegradation of ethanol under the same experimental condition (Veres et al, 2014)
Summary
Antimicrobial nanomaterials have achieved a great scientific interest world-wide (Rodríguez-Baño et al, 2013; 2. Grau et al, 2013). Titanium dioxide-based nanoparticles are well known that under UV light irradiation produce free radicals, which cause decomposition of organic molecules through oxidation (Fujishima and Honda, 1972; Paul et al, 2007). Titanium dioxide has been developed as a photocatalyst and proved to be its antibacterial effect under UV light irradiation (Chih-Yu et al, 2010; Veres et al, 2012a). We have reported several times, that the functionalization of initial semiconductor photocatalyst particles (e.g., TiO2 or ZnO) with plasmonic (e.g., Au or Ag) nanoparticles provides samples with improved photocatalytic properties under visible light irradiation (Kőrősi et al, 2008; Veres et al, 2012a; Veres et al, 2012b)
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