Research Projects

The spread of microbial pathogenesis through water, air, and nosocomial infection poses severe health hazards and is a top priority for the healthcare and food packaging sectors. This has led to a surge in research for materials with antimicrobial properties that do not cause health hazards or environmental threats. Microbial pathogens thrive on frequently-touched surfaces, such as door handles, hand-rails, laptop keyboards, refrigerator handles, and patient-care units. Semiconducting materials, particularly light-active photocatalysts, have been extensively studied for their photocatalytic antimicrobial activity. However, coatable materials with antimicrobial properties are essential for coating frequently-touched object surfaces and food packages to confer pathogen-free characteristics. This proposal aims to develop coatable materials with highly efficient antimicrobial properties under dark and visible light conditions. Candidates like g-C3N4, AgBr, WO3, ZnO, and CuO are chosen for their visible-light photocatalytic activity, photosensitization property, and antimicrobial activity in the dark. The appropriate combination of dark and visible light active candidates will be designed and synthesized, and potential light-active materials will be identified and fabricated into thin films. The fabricated thin films will be studied for their antibacterial properties, with a special emphasis on ESKAPE pathogens for food packaging and health sector applications.