Chlorine doping impact on the photocatalytic and antibacterial activity of sprayed In2S3 films

In this study, the surface chemistry and morphology, the photocatalytic and antibacterial potential of pure and chlorine doped indium sulfide thin films, produced by spray pyrolysis, were analyzed. The RMS roughness seems not to be significantly affected by the chlorine concentration in three of the doped films (around 12 nm). The roughness seems not to affect the characteristics of the films analyzed in this study. The samples presented a photocatalytic efficiency higher than 80%, but no correlation with the amount of Cl concentration was found. The antibacterial potential of the films was assessed against the multidrug-resistant bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa, responsible by serious infections, which are extremely difficult to treat in hospitals. The obtained results evidence an increase of antibacterial activity with the increase of Cl concentration. These results encourage further studies to support the potential of this material to be used in biomedical applications.