Abstract Surface defect modulation has emerged as a potential strategy for promoting the photocatalytic activity of photocatalysts for various applications, while the impact of the oxygen vacancy on bacterial inactivation is still debated. In this study, oxygen vacancies were introduced to tungsten trioxide nanosheets (WO3–x) via a microwave-assisted route. The as-prepared WO3–x nanosheets exhibited excellent visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity toward E. coli K-12 inactivation, and 6 log orders of the bacterial cells could be completely inactivated within 150 min. The obtained bacterial inactivation rate constant was 15.2 times higher than that of pristine WO3 without oxygen vacancies, suggesting that the surface oxygen vacancy could significantly promote the bacterial inactivation efficiency. The mechanism study indicated that the inactivation of bacterial cells occurs via a direct h+ oxidation pathway. In addition, the role of the oxygen vacancy was studied in detail; the oxygen vacancy was found to not only promote interfacial charge separation but also tune the band structure of WO3, thereby leading to increased h+ oxidation power. Finally, a possible oxygen vacancy-dominated photocatalytic bacterial inactivation mechanism is proposed. This work is expected to offer new insights into the microwave-assisted synthesis of defective photocatalysts and the use of the oxygen vacancy for promoting photocatalytic antibacterial activities.

中文翻译：

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用于光催化细菌灭活的缺陷三氧化钨的微波辅助合成：氧空位的作用

摘要 表面缺陷调节已成为促进光催化剂在各种应用中的光催化活性的潜在策略，而氧空位对细菌灭活的影响仍存在争议。在这项研究中，通过微波辅助途径将氧空位引入三氧化钨纳米片（WO3-x）。所制备的 WO3-x 纳米片对大肠杆菌 K-12 灭活表现出优异的可见光驱动光催化活性，并且可以在 150 分钟内完全灭活 6 个对数级的细菌细胞。获得的细菌灭活速率常数比没有氧空位的原始WO3高15.2倍，表明表面氧空位可以显着促进细菌灭活效率。机制研究表明，细菌细胞的灭活是通过直接的 h+ 氧化途径发生的。此外，详细研究了氧空位的作用；发现氧空位不仅可以促进界面电荷分离，还可以调整 WO3 的能带结构，从而提高 h+ 氧化能力。最后，提出了一种可能的氧空位主导的光催化细菌灭活机制。这项工作有望为缺陷光催化剂的微波辅助合成和利用氧空位促进光催化抗菌活性提供新的见解。发现氧空位不仅可以促进界面电荷分离，还可以调整 WO3 的能带结构，从而提高 h+ 氧化能力。最后，提出了一种可能的氧空位主导的光催化细菌灭活机制。这项工作有望为缺陷光催化剂的微波辅助合成和利用氧空位促进光催化抗菌活性提供新的见解。发现氧空位不仅可以促进界面电荷分离，还可以调整 WO3 的能带结构，从而提高 h+ 氧化能力。最后，提出了一种可能的氧空位主导的光催化细菌灭活机制。这项工作有望为缺陷光催化剂的微波辅助合成和利用氧空位促进光催化抗菌活性提供新的见解。