title: Red Phosphorus: An Earth-Abundant Elemental Photocatalyst for "Green" Bacterial Inactivation under Visible Light.
abstract: Earth-abundant red phosphorus was found to exhibit remarkable efficiency to inactivate Escherichia coli K-12 under the full spectrum of visible light and even sunlight. The reactive oxygen species (•OH, •O2(-), H2O2), which were measured and identified to derive mainly from photogenerated electrons in the conduction band using fluorescent probes and scavengers, collectively contributed to the good performance of red phosphorus. Especially, the inactivated-membrane function enzymes were found to be associated with great loss of respiratory and ATP synthesis activity, the kinetics of which paralleled cell death and occurred much earlier than those of cytoplasmic proteins and chromosomal DNA. This indicated that the cell membrane was a vital first target for reactive oxygen species oxidation. The increased permeability of the cell membrane consequently accelerated intracellular protein carboxylation and DNA degradation to cause definite bacterial death. Microscopic analyses further confirmed the cell destruction process starting with the cell envelope and extending to the intracellular components. The red phosphorus still maintained good performance even after recycling through five reaction cycles. This work offers new insight into the exploration and use of an elemental photocatalyst for "green" environmental applications.
authors.affiliation: †School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Dehua
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: ‡Department of Chemistry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China.|§Shenzhen Research Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China.|∥Key Laboratory for Advanced Ceramics and Machining Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Material Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China.
authors.forename: Zhurui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: †School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Guocheng
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: ‡Department of Chemistry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Wanjun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: ‡Department of Chemistry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China.|§Shenzhen Research Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China.
authors.forename: Jimmy C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: †School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Po Keung
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Wong
mesh_terms: D048168:Escherichia coli K12 / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D008027:Light; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010759:Phosphorus Isotopes / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D014871:Water Microbiology; D018508:Water Purification
chemical_list: D010759:Phosphorus Isotopes; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species