Robust nanoporous Cu/TiO2 ceramic filter membrane with promoted bactericidal function

Filter membrane technology has been extensively used for water purification. However, due to their high brittleness and biological fouling, filter membranes will gradually deteriorate. Here we develop a robust Cu/TiO2 ceramic filter membrane for water treatment, which has excellent inherent antibacterial activities both in the dark and under visible light irradiation. One-dimensional nanobelt TiO2 can be sintered into a nanoporous membrane structure by overlapping and interweaving with each other, thereby achieving high flux simultaneously and solving the problem of high brittleness of inorganic ceramics. Meanwhile, such one-dimensional TiO2 nanostructures can provide more deposition sites for Cu nanoparticles with inherent antibacterial activity in the dark. To realise the surface plasmon resonance-enhanced antibacterial activity under visible light, Cu/TiO2 heterostructures are used.