Titanium-vanadium oxide nanocomposite thin films: Synthesis, characterization and antibacterial activity

A sol-gel based deposition method was successfully developed to produce a series of crack-free, spatially homogeneous undoped/silver doped titania-vanadia oxide nanocomposite thin films. Thin films were characterized using Glancing Incidence X-ray Diffraction (GIXRD), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), and Ultraviolet Visible Spectroscopy (UV-Vis). It was determined via both XRD and XPS that when calcined at 450 °C the nanocomposite crystallinity was a function of sol composition. Additionally, it was determined via GIXRD that upon silver doping, silver was incorporated into the vanadia structure or present in silver oxide form in crystalline films. A red shift within the UV-Vis spectra was observed with an increase of vanadia concentration from 0 to 100% respectively. Antibacterial analysis conducted on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus epidermidis demonstrated that films exposed to light showed greater antibacterial properties.