This study investigates and compares the virucidal performances of photocatalytic (PC) and photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) treatments in the presence and absence of halides, such as Br(−) and Cl(−), under comparable experimental conditions. The results confirm that the PC virucidal efficiency can be enhanced in the presence of low halide concentrations (e.g., X = Br(−) or Cl(−)) and further enhanced by applying potential bias onto the photoanode in a PEC system. The PEC treatment in the presence of 1.0 mM Br (PEC-Br) shows the highest virucidal efficiency, enabling complete inactivation of a ∼1000 TCID50 replication-deficient recombinant adenovirus (RDRADS) population within 31.7 s. The superior virucidal performances of PEC-X treatments can be attributed to the increased production of active oxygen species and additional viricides resulting from the PEC halide oxidation, as well as prolonged lifetime of photoholes (h(+)) for direct inactivation. The findings of this work confirm that new forms of active species generated in situ via a PC or PEC process are effective for viruses.
Adenovirus inactivation by in situ photocatalytically and photoelectrocatalytically generated halogen viricides