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Engineering Janus gold nanorod—titania heterostructures with enhanced photocatalytic antibacterial activity against multidrug-resistant bacterial infection

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Abstract

Photocatalytic antibacterial approach shows great potential in treating multidrug-resistant bacterial infections. However, the bactericidal efficiency heavily depends on the photocatalytic activity of semiconductor materials, which is limited by the fast recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Janus nano-heterostructures with spatial control growth of TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) at one end of gold nanorods (Au NRs) are designed via surface ligand regulation for photocatalytic sterilization and infected wound healing. The asymmetric nanostructure of Janus gold nanorod-titanium dioxide nanoparticles (Janus AuNR-TiO2 NPs) promotes the directional migration of charge carriers and is more conducive to the spatial separation of electron—hole pairs. Moreover, the injection of hot electrons and enhancement of plasmon near-fields from the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect further improve the photocatalytic efficiency of Janus AuNR-TiO2 NPs. Under simulated sunlight irradiation, large amounts of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generated for photocatalytic antibacterial activity. Enhanced bactericidal efficiency up to 99.99% against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is achieved in vitro. Furthermore, Janus AuNR-TiO2 NPs exhibit superior biocompatibility, structural stability, and also remarkably accelerate MRSA-infected wound healing. Taking the above all into consideration, Janus AuNR-TiO2 NPs, as an efficient antibacterial photocatalyst, offers a promising strategy for MRSA infectious therapy.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21874024, 32101074, and U21A20377), the Joint Research Program of Health and Education Commission of Fujian Province (No. 2019-WJ-20), and the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province (No. 2020J02012).

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  1. Shuqin Li and Hongqi Huo contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Qilu Institute of Technology, Jinan, 250200, China

    Shuqin Li & Xing Gao

  2. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Han Dan Central Hospital, Handan, 056001, China

    Hongqi Huo, Jiamin Ye & Jibin Song

  3. Ministry of Education (MOE) Key Laboratory for Analytical Science of Food Safety and Biology, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108, China

    Luntao Liu

  4. Institute of Precision Medicine, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, 518036, China

    Shumin Wang & Jing Mu

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  1. Shuqin Li
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Correspondence to Luntao Liu, Jing Mu or Jibin Song.

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Engineering Janus gold nanorod—titania heterostructures with enhanced photocatalytic antibacterial activity against multidrug-resistant bacterial infection

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Li, S., Huo, H., Gao, X. et al. Engineering Janus gold nanorod—titania heterostructures with enhanced photocatalytic antibacterial activity against multidrug-resistant bacterial infection. Nano Res. 16, 2049–2058 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4876-5

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