Anti-biofouling function of amorphous nano-Ta 2 O 5 coating for VO 2 -based intelligent windows.

From environmental and health perspectives, the acquisition of a surface anti-biofouling property holds important significance for the usability of VO2 intelligent windows. Herein, we firstly deposited amorphous Ta2 O5 nanoparticles on VO2 film by the magnetron sputtering method. It was found that the amorphous nano-Ta2 O5 coating possessed a favorable anti-biofouling capability against Pseudomonas aeruginosa as an environmental microorganism model, behind which lay the mechanism that the amorphous nano-Ta2 O5 could interrupt the microbial membrane electron transport chain and significantly elevate the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) level. A plausible relationship was established between the anti-biofouling activity and physicochemical nature of amorphous Ta2 O5 nanoparticles from the perspective of defect chemistry. ROS-induced oxidative damage gave rise to microbial viability loss. In addition, the amorphous nano-Ta2 O5 coating can endow VO2 with favorable cytocompatibility with human skin fibroblasts. This study may provide new insights into understanding the anti-biofouling and antimicrobial actions of amorphous transition metal oxide nanoparticles, which is conducive to expanding their potential applications in environmental fields.