Evidence for the mechanism of photocatalytic degradation of the bacterial wall membrane at the TiO2 interface by ATR-FTIR and laser kinetic spectroscopy.

The photocatalytic peroxidation of E. coli cell, lipo-polysaccharide (LPS), phosphatidyl-ethanolcholine (PE), and peptidoglycan (PGN) of the E. coli membrane wall has been investigated on TiO2 porous films by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. The fast reactions of the photogenerated charge carriers in TiO2 with E. coli, LPS, and PE were monitored by laser kinetic spectroscopy. ATR-FTIR spectroscopy allowed the identification of E. coli, LPS, PE, and PGN as photocatalytic peroxidation products. The PGN was observed to be the most resistant membrane wall component. Shorter peroxidation times were observed for LPS and PE. Laser photolysis shows that E. coli, LPS, and PE compete in the scavenging of a surface trapped holes (h+) with the recombination reaction of h+ with the generated electrons (e-) within times > 50 ns. This scavenging leads to the formation of organic radicals initiating the radical chain peroxidation of E. coli, LPS, PE, and PE.