What will happen when microorganisms “meet” photocatalysts and photocatalysis?

Abstract

In recent years, photocatalytic technology has been widely studied as an environmental restoration technology and energy production technology to solve the two crises of energy shortage and environmental pollution. Meanwhile, with the continuous research and improvement in photocatalysis technology, it has been found that the interaction between microorganisms and photocatalysts has good application prospects. In general, the interaction between photocatalysts and microorganisms can be summarized as follows: first of all, in terms of environmental pollution control, photocatalysts can damage microorganisms and sterilize them; secondly, in the production of energy materials, photocatalysts can couple with microorganisms to produce energy or degrade pollutants more efficiently; thirdly, in the preparation of photocatalysts, microorganisms can help the construction of photocatalysts. Although the relationship between microorganisms and photocatalysts is very important and significant, related reviews about this are rare. Therefore, in this paper, we have summarized the interaction between microorganisms and photocatalysts, the mechanism and application of photocatalysts in microorganism damage, and the mechanism and application of photocatalysts and microorganism synergism, and the preparation of photocatalysts by biological methods was also reviewed. Moreover, the problems and challenges that should be faced and addressed in future research are discussed.