Preparation and properties of antibacterial TiO₂@C/Ag core-shell composite

An environment-friendly hydrothermal method was used to prepare TiO₂@C core-shell composite using TiO₂ as core and sucrose as carbon source. TiO₂@C served as a support for the immobilization of Ag by impregnation in silver nitrate aqueous solution. The chemical structures and morphologies of TiO₂@C and TiO₂@C/Ag composite were characterized by x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis. The antibacterial properties of the TiO₂@C/Ag core-shell composite against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) were examined by the viable cell counting method. The results indicate that silver supported on the surface of TiO₂@C shows excellent antibacterial activity.