Influences of glycerol as an efficient doping agent on crystal structure and antibacterial activity of B-TiO2 nano-materials

In this study, highly effective boron acid and glycerol co-doped TiO2 nano-materials were directly synthesized via a sol–gel method. The resulting materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectrum (FT-IR), UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and X-ray photoelectron (PL) spectroscopy. The results indicate that boron dopant is partially embedded into the interstitial TiO2 structure or incorporated into the TiO2 lattice through occupying the position of the oxygen atom, and others is present in the form of B2O3. Boron acid and glycerol co-doping TiO2 materials show obvious red shift in their absorption edges and efficient electron–hole separation because of the glycerol doping. The study on the antibacterial activities demonstrate that co-doped TiO2 nano-materials could effectively inactivate the bacteria under visible light irradiation. Co-doped TiO2 nano-materials exhibit more excellent antibacterial performance than B-doped TiO2 nano-materials.