Removal of Bacteria using a Thin Layer of TiO₂ Nanoparticlesbased Photo-catalyst for Drinking Water Disinfection

This research examines the removal efficiency of bacteria using titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticles-based photocatalyst by Photocatalytic for water treatment.

A nanoparticle of nTiO₂-type anatase sol-gel was prepared and coated with a thin glass film to use as the cathode pole of an electrochemical cell connected with the anode pole of platinum. This electrochemical cell was used for treating and disinfecting polluted synthetic water from E-coli bacteria with different concentrations from 1*10³ to 1*10⁷ cfu/ml. These samples were treated by electrochemical cells and the results showed a significant level of removal efficiency of E-coli bacteria, reaching 95%.

In comparison, the results were reduced to 50% efficiency when the treatment was conducted using direct sunlight as the natural source of ultraviolet light. This occurred because the sunlight was not concentrated enough on the nanoparticle film, which means there was not enough power for the reaction. The results were generally very good for laboratory experiments and need more modification to get high removal efficiency for perfect drinking water disinfection. This result was confirmed using a regression analysis, R² was 97.37, 99.80, 98.98, 94.72 for WDE1, WDE2, WDE3 and WDE4, respectively.