Preparation of Ag/Cu-doped titanium(IV) oxide nanoparticles in w/o microemulsion

The Cu-TiO2 and Ag/Cu-TiO2 nanoparticles have been prepared using a water-in-oil microemulsion system of water/AOT/cyclohexane. The photocatalytic activity of the catalysts was estimated by measuring the decomposition rate of phenol in 0.21 mM aqueous solution under visible light irradiation. The bioactivity of Ag/Cu-doped titanium (IV) oxide nanocomposites was estimated using bacteria Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and pathogenic fungi belonging to Candida family. The photocatalysts’ characteristics by X-ray diffraction, BET surface area measurements, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis showed that a sample with the highest photo- and bioactivity had anatase structure, about 190 m 2 /g specific surface area, absorbed light for λ>400 nm and contained 1.45 mass % of silver, 1.40 mass % of copper and 59.4 mass % of Ti.