TiO₂ is one of the wonder materials that possess extraordinary engineering versatility in terms of nanostructures, shapes and morphology. TiO₂ nanomaterials have shown superior antibacterial capability, it is however still unclear about the intrinsic dimensional effects on antibacterial mechanisms. This study reported a fundamental antibacterial mechanism about the intrinsic antibacterial capabilities of the engineered nanostructured TiO₂ materials (ENMs) – from three aspects 1) the structures of such nanoparticles, rods, tubes, fibres and spheres; 2) sizes/diameters/length of the ENMs; 3) combined effect due to dimensions and structures. Experimental results revealed that, the 1 D nanotubular TiO₂, being the smallest individual ENMs possessed the highest toxicity towards E. coli; further studies showed that 3 D dendritic nanostructure incorporated with 1 D ultrathin TiO₂ nanorods had the highest antibacterial efficiency. Comparative studies have suggested that, the well-engineered 3 D TiO₂ nanomaterials (microspheres) with enhanced surface properties such as evenly grown 1 D sub-structures were more aggressive than the cluster aggregated 1D nanomaterials. In-depth research concluded that with well-controlled nanorods density and length, the integrated 3 D ENMs exhibited most efficient antibacterial activities. Such results could benefit the future antibacterial applications and the agent fabrications.

TiO ₂是一种奇妙的材料，在纳米结构，形状和形态方面具有非凡的工程多功能性。TiO ₂纳米材料已显示出优异的抗菌能力，但是对于抗菌机理的内在尺寸影响尚不清楚。这项研究报告了有关工程纳米结构TiO ₂材料（ENMs）固有抗菌能力的基本抗菌机理-从三个方面来看：1）这种纳米颗粒，棒，管，纤维和球的结构；2）ENM的尺寸/直径/长度；3）由于尺寸和结构的综合作用。实验结果表明，一维纳米管TiO ₂，是最小的单个ENM对大肠杆菌具有最高的毒性；进一步的研究表明，结合1D超薄TiO ₂纳米棒的3D树突状纳米结构具有最高的抗菌效率。比较研究表明，精心设计的具有增强的表面特性的3D TiO ₂纳米材料（微球），例如均匀生长的1D子结构，比簇状聚集的1D纳米材料更具侵略性。深入研究得出的结论是，纳米棒的密度和长度控制得当，集成的3 D ENM表现出最有效的抗菌活性。这样的结果可能有益于未来的抗菌应用和药剂制造。