Nano-Titania Photocatalysis and Metal Doping to Deter Fungal Growth on Outdoor and Indoor Paint Surfaces Using UV and Fluorescent Light

Whitehead, Kathryn A ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6001-6686, Brown, Mark, Caballero, Lucia, Lynch, Stephen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4183-5122, Edge, Michele, Hill, Claire, Verran, Joanna ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5539-6896 and Allen, Norman S ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7038-6971 (2025) Nano-Titania Photocatalysis and Metal Doping to Deter Fungal Growth on Outdoor and Indoor Paint Surfaces Using UV and Fluorescent Light. Micro, 5 (1). 5.

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Abstract

This work determined the resistance of paint formulations containing TiO2 particles to fungal growth. Siloxane, acrylic and silicone paints were placed outdoors, and the fungal species growing thereon were recorded after 3, 6 and 9 months. In addition, three paint types containing TiO2 with/without biocide were inoculated with fungal spores and irradiated using UV. Acrylic paints were also doped with different metals and were inoculated and incubated under fluorescent light. Following outdoor incubation, the silicone paint was the least colonised by different fungal species. The species most recovered from the surfaces were Aspergillus spp. and Penicillium spp. Following UV irradiation on different paints containing biocide and/or a photocatalyst, no fungal growth was demonstrated on some of the paint combinations. When the paint samples were doped with different metals and incubated using light, the sample most efficient at preventing fungal growth contained lanthanum (0.004%). The paint samples containing praseodymium (light:1.72) facilitated the densest fungal colonies. Most of the surfaces demonstrated heterogeneous coverage by the fungi. The most clustered fungal colonisation was on surfaces incubated in the light. This work demonstrated that fungal colonisation on paints changed over time and that the antimicrobial efficacy of TiO2 was affected by the chemical composition, biocide and doping of the paint.