Examining Tantalum-Based Photocatalysts for Photoinactivation of E. coli
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Authors
Anand, Raghavi
Issue Date
2018
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
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Abstract
Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a bacterium that contaminates potable water sources, and can cause a host of gastrointestinal infections. It is valuable to explore alternative cost-effective, efficient ways to reclaim wastewater and sterilize potable water outside of the current methods. Solar power is a renewable energy source, which can be harnessed for light-driven processes, applicable in this scenario. Photocatalysts, compounds that are active when illuminated with light, can be used in combination with solar light for photoinactivation of E. coli. This work helped to determine if tantalum pentoxide (Ta2O5) and tantalum oxynitride (TaON) can photoinactivate E. coli (DH5-Alpha). The results support the extrapolation that these two tantalum-based oxides have the ability to photoinactivate E. coli, but quantification is arduous and challenging. Current laboratory constraints including access to better analytical tools made it difficult to evaluate the hypothesis effectively. Further experiments must be conducted in a controlled manner to verify the results seen in preliminary experiments.
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In Copyright