A review on bidirectional analogies between the photocatalysis and antibacterial properties of ZnO

As a multi-functional biosafety material with outstanding anti-ultraviolet property, good photocatalytic property as well as antibacterial activity, ZnO shows promising practical applications in both researches and developments. It has been widely used in the fields such as photocatalysis, antibacterial, UV protecting and so on. The unique photoelectric properties of ZnO promise it an effective photocatalyst. And it plays an important role in many fields such as organic matter, pollution treatment, environmental cleaning materials and biological medicine. In this review, we discussed the key factors which may affect the photocatalytic and antibacterial properties of ZnO based on the working mechanisms. Also, the methods that can be used to improve the performance of ZnO have been summarized. This review not only investigated the recent progress in the ZnO research and application development as photocatalysis and antibacterial, but also provided some useful information for researchers who are interested in engineering ZnO as photocatalysis and antibacterial agent. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.