Antimicrobial Efficacy of Photocatalysts in Indian Medical Association Research Paper

Antimicrobial Efficacy of Photocatalysts in Indian Medical Association - Research Paper Example The ability of photocatalytic substances, for example, titanium dioxide (TiO2) to disintegrate organic contaminants in the air and water has been established by Verdier et al. as one of the methods used to kill micro-organisms. Studies by Bonetta et al. have shown that the rutile and anatase forms of TiO2 have photocatalytic activity and are active against various Gram-positive & Gram-negative bacteria, yeast and green algae such as, Escherichia coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Chlorella Vulgaris. There are two key traits that make TiO2 ideal in the manufacture of building materials. (Rekha et al., 2010) They include photo-stimulated redox reactions of adsorbed materials and the photo-generated hydrophilic exchange of TiO2. Titanium dioxide is deemed as sedentary and safe material and has been used in many functions including the manufacture of several products such as paint, used as food additive, nutritional supplements among others.The first part of th e trial carried by the Indian Medical Association was carried in the premises whereby they tested photocatalysts efficacy of TiO2 in the Indian Scenario. The test was done as stipulated in the ISO protocol 27447:2009. The selected area of testing included the floor, door handles and table top swap of the premises. They cultured bacteria and counted the number of colonies in each sample. There was a lot of microorganism from the three selected regions. The ground floors had largest number of the organism compared to table top swap.