Photocatalytic disinfection performance in virus and virus/bacteria system by Cu-TiO2 nanofibers under visible light

Highlights: • Cu-TiO₂ nanofibers inactivated f2 and E. coil 285 efficiently under visible light. • Series influencing factors were investigated in single virus system. • Disinfection performance in virus/bacteria mixed system was studied. • Competitive adsorption affected the E. coli 285 inactivation in mixed system. • The free ROSs in the bulk phase played a crucial role in phage f2 inactivation. The presence of pathogenic microorganisms in water is a great threat to human health, and photocatalysis is promising for disinfection. However, the research on virus inactivation with visible-light photocatalysis is still limited, especially the coexistence of virus and its host bacteria. In this study, bacteriophage f2 and its host E. coil 285 were used as the model microorganisms, and the disinfection performance of prepared Cu-TiO₂ nanofibers under visible light was investigated. The result showed that the prepared Cu-TiO₂ nanofibers showed a brilliant ability in terms of removing bacteriophage f2 and E. coil 285 under visible light. Series experiments indicated that the initial pH didn't affect the photocatalytic disinfection performance significantly. In the certain range, the removal efficiency of bacteriophage f2 increased with the increase of catalyst dosage, light intensity and temperature, but decreased with the increase of initial virus concentration. In virus/bacteria mixed system, bacteriophage f2 exhibited stronger resistance to photocatalytic oxidation than E. coil 285, and the removal of bacteriophage f2 was obviously affected by being mixed with E. coil 285, while the removal of E. coil 285 almost remained unchanged after being mixed with bacteriophage f2. Further research proved that competitive adsorption in mixed system played a certain role in E. coli 285 inactivation, while the free reactive oxygen species (ROSs) in the bulk phase played a crucial role in phage f2 inactivation.