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Updated: Nov 18, 2025

Inactivation of Pathogens via Visible-Light Photolysis of Riboflavin-5′-Phosphate
Published on: April 6, 2022
Photo-catalyzed TiO2 inactivates pathogenic viruses by attacking viral genome
Yimin Tong1, Gansheng Shi2, Gaowei Hu3
1CAS Key Laboratory of Molecular Virology and Immunology, Institut Pasteur of Shanghai, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China.
Abstract:
Previous observations have been reported that viruses were inactivated using strong irradiation. Here, new evidence was disclosed by studying the effects of nanosized TiO2 on viral pathogens under a low irradiation condition (0.4 mW/cm2 at UVA band) that mimics the field setting. We showed that photo-activated TiO2 efficiently inhibits hepatitis C virus infection, and weak indoor light with intensity of 0.6 mW/cm2 at broad-spectrum wavelength and around 0.15 mW/cm2 of UVA band also lead to partial inhibition. Mechanistic studies demonstrated that hydroxyl radicals produced by photo-activated TiO2 do not destroy virion structure and contents, but attack viral RNA genome, thus inactivating the virus. Furthermore, we showed that photo-activated TiO2 inactivates a broad range of human viral pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2, a novel coronavirus responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In conclusion, we showed that photo-catalyzed nanosized TiO2 inactivates pathogenic viruses, paving a way to its field application in control of viral infectious diseases.
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