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

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.

Automated summary

Photocatalytic antibacterial approach using Janus AuNR-TiO2 NPs has shown great potential in treating multidrug-resistant bacterial infections. The asymmetric nanostructure of Janus AuNR-TiO2 NPs promotes the directional migration of charge carriers and improves the spatial separation of electron-hole pairs. The injection of hot electrons and enhancement of plasmon near-fields from the SPR effect further enhance the photocatalytic efficiency of Janus AuNR-TiO2 NPs. Under simulated sunlight irradiation, Janus AuNR-TiO2 NPs generate large amounts of reactive oxygen species for highly efficient antibacterial activity against MRSA. Moreover, Janus AuNR-TiO2 NPs exhibit superior biocompatibility, structural stability, and accelerate wound healing.