A photochemical route in the synthesis and characterization of La 2 Ti 2 O 7 and La 2 Ti 2 O 7 /AgO films and its evaluation in Congo red degradation and as antibacterial control to Staphylococcus aureus.

In this article, we propose a simple photochemical method to synthesize pure La 2 Ti 2 O 7 films and La 2 Ti 2 O 7 films doped with silver at 1.0, 3.0, and 5.0 mol%. After annealing the photo-deposited films at 900 °C, XRD, SEM, and XPS analyses showed the formation of a monoclinic La 2 Ti 2 O 7 phase and the presence of Ag and AgO in doped samples. Photocatalytic tests for Congo red degradation demonstrated that pure La 2 Ti 2 O 7 achieved 25.4% degradation, while doped samples reached a maximum of 92.7% degradation. Moreover, increasing silver doping on La 2 Ti 2 O 7 films significantly reduced the growth of Staphylococcus aureus, indicating potential antibacterial properties. The enhanced photoactivity was attributed to the formation of a type I heterojunction between La 2 Ti 2 O 7 and AgO, and a degradation mechanism was proposed based on Congo red degradation.