Polymer Membrane Modified with Photocatalytic and Plasmonic Nanoparticles for Self-Cleaning Filters

Aliaksandr Burko; Siarhei Zavatski; Arina Baturova; Makhina Kholiboeva; Julia Kozina; Kseniya Kravtsunova; Vladimir Popov; Artem Gudok; Sergey Dubkov; Stanislav Khartov; Hanna Bandarenka

doi:10.3390/polym15030726

Polymer Membrane Modified with Photocatalytic and Plasmonic Nanoparticles for Self-Cleaning Filters

Polymers (Basel). 2023 Jan 31;15(3):726. doi: 10.3390/polym15030726.

Authors

Aliaksandr Burko^{1

2}, Siarhei Zavatski^{1

2}, Arina Baturova^{1

2}, Makhina Kholiboeva¹, Julia Kozina¹, Kseniya Kravtsunova³, Vladimir Popov^{1

2}, Artem Gudok¹, Sergey Dubkov², Stanislav Khartov⁴, Hanna Bandarenka^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Applied Plasmonic Laboratory, Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics, 220013 Minsk, Belarus.
² Institute of Advanced Materials and Technologies, National Research University of Electronic Technology, Moscow 124498, Russia.
³ Department of General and Applied Physics, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow 141701, Russia.
⁴ Federal Research Center «Krasnoyarsk Scientific Center», Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 119991, Russia.

Abstract

In this study, we developed a filtering material for facial masks, which is capable of trapping and subsequent inactivation of bacteria under white light emitting diodes (LED) or sunlight irradiation. Such a functionality is achieved via the modification of the composite membrane based on porous polymer with photocatalytic (TiO₂) and plasmonic (Ag) nanoparticles. The porous polymer is produced by means of a computer numerical control machine, which rolls a photoresist/thermoplastic mixture into a ~20-µm-thick membrane followed by its thermal/ultraviolet (UV) hardening and porosification. TiO₂ nanoparticles are prepared by hydrothermal and sol-gel techniques. Colloidal synthesis is utilized to fabricate Ag nanoparticles. The TiO₂ photocatalytic activity under UV excitation as well as a photothermal effect generated by plasmonic Ag nanoparticles subjected to LED irradiation are studied by the assessment of methylene blue (MB) decomposition. We demonstrate that, in contrast to the filter of the standard facial medical mask, the polymer membrane modified with spray-coated TiO₂ and Ag nanoparticles prevents the penetration of bacillus subtilis from its top to bottom side and significantly inhibits bacterial growth when exposed to LED or sunlight.

Keywords: SERS-detection; permeability; photocatalysis; plasmonic silver nanoparticles; polymer membrane; titanium dioxide nanoparticles.

Grants and funding

The research was funded by the Belarusian foundation for fundamental research (grant number T22TYRK-005), Russian Science Foundation in a framework of project #21-19-00761, and in accordance with the Russian State Task #FWES-2021-0023.