Photothermocatalytic Sterilization Performance and Mechanism of Pure Nb2CTx MXenes Nanosheets Under Infrared Light Irradiation

Abstract

Rapid and efficient killings of bacteria are critically required due to the emergence and growth of antimicrobial resistance. In this paper, Nb2CT x was subjected to sterilization experiments against Staphylococcus aureus under infrared light irradiation. The results showed that 1.0 mg/mL of Nb2CT x had the best sterilization effect, and the inactivation rate was 99.72% within 80 min of infrared light irradiation. The analysis of the sterilization mechanism illustrated that the photothermal synergy sterilization of Nb2CT x mainly depends on the generation of reactive oxygen species and the photothermal synergy effect. More importantly, after four testing cycles, Nb2CT x still has good bactericidal ability due to its high stability. The excellent properties of Nb2CT x suggest them as promising photocatalytic antibacterial agents.

Keywords: Nb2CTx, antibacterial activity, photothermal synergy, infrared light, reactive oxygen species