Antibacterial Activity of Oxygen Vacancy-Mediated ROS Production of V6O13 Powder against Candida albicans

The emergence of drug resistance due to the overuse of antibiotics has made the prevention and treatment of invasive fungal infections caused byCandida albicans(C. albicans) a great challenge. Oxygen vacancy-rich inorganic materials show great promise in the antimicrobial field due to their unique physicochemical properties. Defect engineering can significantly optimize the electronic structure of inorganic materials to further enhance their antimicrobial activity. We designed oxygen vacancy defect-rich V6O13powders using the hydrothermal-calcination method and investigated their anti-C. albicansactivity. The results showed that the stronger antibacterial activity is attributed to the fact that the optimized V6O13powder oxygen vacancy defects induced a reduction reaction of dissolved oxygen in the environment, which produced ROS with strong oxidative properties, causing damage to the wall membrane ofC. albicansand leakage of intracellular material. The minimum inhibitory concentration (99% or more inhibition) of V6O13powders is 4 mg/mL. This work not only provides a facile method for constructing oxygen-rich vacancies in V6O13powders, but also provides new insights into the potential of inorganic materials optimized by defect engineering for efficient antimicrobial activity.