Inactivation of Aspergillus niger with photocatalytic paints

SILVIA MERCEDES ZACARÍAS; ROCÍO SCHUMACHER; FEDERICO SALVADORES; ORLANDO M. ALFANO; MARÍA DE LOS MILAGROS BALLARI

Simposio; The Fifth International Symposium on Environmental Biotechnology and Engineering; 2016

The environmental fungi inactivation employing photocatalytic paints was assessed for different illumination conditions. The paint was formulated with a modified carbon doped TiO2 active under visible radiation. However, the inactivation of Aspergillus niger by the photocatalytic oxidation of the TiO2 present in the paint was not distinguishable working with visible light. The latter was concluded after testing several non-photoactive blanks under visible light, in which a fungi inactivation comparable to the photocatalytic paint was achieved. Nevertheless, better control of the microorganism growth by the photocatalytic process was observed for the experiments carried out under UV light, when the photocatalytic paint could inactivate more Aspergillus niger conidia than the tested blanks. In addition, a commercial antifungal paint was evaluated in order to compare the efficiency of the photocatalytic material with the actual mold control method applying fungicide compounds.