Novel PANI nanotube at TiO₂ composite as efficient chemical and biological disinfectant

The objective of our study was to develop a new class of polyaniline/titanium dioxide (PANI-TiO₂) nanocomposites with characteristic one dimensional morphology. PANI-TiO₂ nanocomposites were characterized by SEM-EDX, TEM, UV-DRS, TGA and XRD techniques. The PANI-TiO₂ nanocomposite was investigated for the photocatalysis and antibacterial properties; the latter was hitherto unscreened. The photocatalytic and antibacterial activity was tested using methylene blue (MB) as model dye and Escherichia coli (E. coli) as a model organism respectively. Antibacterial efficiency was analyzed by optical density and morphological damage was observed by TEM. In contrast to pristine polyaniline (PANI), lower concentrations of PANI-TiO₂ nanocomposite were needed to strongly inhibit the growth of wild-type E. coli. The nanocomposite has exceptionally good antibacterial activity against E. coli. Admirable photo-degradation efficiency against MB dye was achieved under visible light which could be attributed by the promotion of charge separation efficiency caused by the synergy between PANI and TiO₂. Undoubtedly our results indicate that PANI-TiO₂ nanocomposite could be useful for multiple applications such as a very good candidate for water purification, antibiofouling, and disinfection of chemical and biological pollutants.