Antibacterial Properties of Nanometer Fe3+-TiO2 Thin Films

In order to study antibacterial properties of nanometer TiO₂ thin films, nanometer Fe³⁺-TiO₂ films have been prepared on glass by RF magnetron co-sputtering method. The films were characterized by SEM, XRD, and XPS. The influence of Fe element and calcination temperature on the films structure was investigated. The principle of substitution impurity to improve the activity was discussed. The bactericidal activity for the bacteria cells was estimated by relative number of bacteria survived calculated from the number of viable cells which from colonies on the nutrient agar plates. The crystallite size of the anatase phase increases with increasing calcination temperature. XPS results show that doped-Fe is present in the oxide state. The nanometer Fe³⁺-TiO₂ thin films exhibited a high antibacterial activity, which was enhanced with the increase of the temperature of thermal treatment and formation of anatase crystalline structure.