Red Phosphorus: An Earth-Abundant Elemental Photocatalyst for Green Bacterial Inactivation under Visible Light

Earth-abundant red phosphorus was found to exhibit remarkable efficiency to inactivate Escherichia coli K-12 undo the full spectrum of visible light and even sunlight. The reactive oxygen species (center dot OH, center dot O-2(-), H2O2), which were measured and-identified to derive Mainly from photogenerated electrons in the conduction band using fluorescent probes and scavengers, collectively contributed to the good performance of red phosphorus. Especially, the inactivated-membrane function enzymes were found to be associated with great loss::of respiratory anti ATP synthesis activity, the kinetics of which paralleled cell,death and occurred much earlier than those of cytoplasmic proteins and chromosomal DNA. This indicated that the cell membrane was a vital first target for reactive oxygen species oxidation. The increased permeability of the cell membrane consequently accelerated intracellular protein carboxylation and DNA degradation to cause definite bacterial death Microscopic analyses further-confirmed-the cell destruction process starting with the cell envelope and extending to the intracellular components. The red phosphorus Still maintained good performance even after recycling through five reaction cycles. This work offers new insight into the exploration and use of an elemental photocatalyst for green environmental applications.