Effective photocatalytic disinfection of Escherichia coli by one-dimensional Ag2V4O11 nanowires under solar light irradiation

In this paper, one-dimensional Ag2V4O11 nanowires were prepared by a facile method and developed as a novel visible-light-sensitive photocatalyst for the disinfection of Escherichia coli (E. coli) under solar light irradiation. The as-prepared Ag2V4O11 had uniform wire-like structure with large specific surface area and good visible-light absorption performance. Experimental results indicated that almost all (99.9%) of the initial bacteria were killed after 30 min reaction in the presence of 1 mg/mL Ag2V4O11 under solar light irradiation. The photocatalytic mechanism was studied by active species trapping experiments, revealing that the hydroxyl radicals ((OH)-O-center dot) played key roles in the inactivation of bacteria. This study provides a potential effective Ag2V4O11 nanowire photocatalyst for water purification and other applications.