Photocatalysis application is considered as one of the most highly promising techniques for the reduction in wastewater pollution. However, the majority of highly efficient photocatalyst materials are obtained as fine powders, and this causes a lot of photocatalyst handling and reusability issues. The concept of the floating catalyst proposes the immobilization of a photocatalytic (nano)material on relatively large floating substrates and is considered as an encouraging way to overcome some of the most challenging photocatalysis issues. The purpose of this study is to examine floating photocatalyst application for Salmonella typhimurium bacteria inactivation in polluted water. More specifically, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) beads were used as a photocatalyst support for the immobilization of carbon-doped TiO2 films forming floating photocatalyst structures. Carbon-doped TiO2 films in both amorphous and anatase forms were deposited on HDPE beads using the low-temperature magnetron sputtering technique. Bacteria inactivation, together with cycling experiments, revealed promising results by decomposing more than 95% of Salmonella typhimurium bacteria in five consecutive treatment cycles. Additionally, a thorough analysis of the deposited carbon-doped TiO2 film was performed including morphology, elemental composition and mapping, structure, and depth profiling. The results demonstrate that the proposed method is a suitable technique for the formation of high-quality photocatalytic active films on thermal-sensitive substrates.
Keywords: Salmonella typhimurium; carbon-doped TiO2; floating photocatalyst; magnetron sputtering; thin films.