Fabrication, Characterization and Antibacterial Effect of Novel Electrospun TiO₂ Nanorods on a Panel of Pathogenic Bacteria

This study is aimed at the synthesis and characterization of novel Titania nanorods by sol–gel electrospinning technique. The physicochemical properties of the synthesized nanorods were determined by FE-SEM, EDX, TEM, TGA and XRD. We investigated the photocatalytic activity of Titania nanorods for degrading Rhodamine 6G dye and discussed the antibacterial activity and interaction mechanism against four pathogenic bacteria viz., S. aureus, E. coli, S. typhimurium and K. pneumoniae by taking five different concentrations (5–45 μg/mL). The antibacterial effect of electrospun Titania nanorods was tested both in liquid culture and on agar plates. Our investigation reveals that the lowest concentration of Titania nanorods solution inhibiting the growth of microbial strain was found to be 5 μg/mL for all the tested pathogens. The photocatalytic activity of TiO₂ nanorods showed better performance for dye degradation than commercially available P25. Moreover, Bio-TEM examination demonstrated that the exposure of the selected microbial strains to the Titania nanorods led to disruption of the cell membranes and leakage of the cytoplasm which cause bacteria to die eventually. Our results point the oxidative attack from exterior to the interior of the bacteria by hydroxyl radicals as the primary mechanism of photocatalytic inactivation.