Enhancing Bacteria Inactivation: Computational Insights Into the Use of Laser-Irradiated Gold Nanoparticles

Among existing techniques for bacteria inactivation, thermal heating is notably effective. Indeed, the temperature rise in fluidic systems contributes significantly to bacteria inactivation in general and pathogen in particular. In the present work, gold nanoparticles were irradiated for the purpose of inactivating E.coli bacteria. A well-documented model from the literature was used to estimate the heat generation by the gold nanoparticle substrate irradiated by laser. The resulting temperature distribution from the heat generation was validated against experimental data, and the results obtained from the theoretical model showed a good fit with the experiment. Furthermore, the bacterial behavior was modeled using a first-order kinetic model coupled with the Arrhenius equation, with parameters determined from experimental data. The results show a logarithmic function of temperature evolution during the irradiation process. It was also confirmed that the described method for bacterial inactivation can be effectively considered as one of the approaches that can be employed for water and surfaces disinfection.