CuO/ZnO Heterojunction Nanofilm for Effective Photocatalytic Disinfection

Pathogenic bacteria can spread rapidly from contaminated surfaces to human skin once humans touch such surfaces, resulting in contact infection and subsequent bacterial infectious diseases. In addition to the bacterial drug resistance induced by overuse of antibiotics, the commonly used antibiotic bacteria-killing strategy is unsuitable for surface sterilization of facilities. Herein, a heterojunction CuO/ZnO nanofilm was constructed on glass plates by calcination and atomic layer deposition. This film exhibited excellent photocatalytic antibacterial activity under visible light. The heterostructure between CuO and ZnO at the interface accelerated the separation of photogenerated electrons and holes, resulting in increased yield of reactive oxygen species, which effectively kill bacteria. After 5 min of simulated sunlight irradiation, the antibacterial efficiencies of CuO/ZnO against Staphylococcus aureus ( S. aureus ) and Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) were 99.68 ± 0.31% and 96.49 ± 0.78%, respectively. The photocatalytic antimicrobial nanofilm synthesized in this study can potentially be used for rapid and safe disinfection of contact surfaces in public facilities.