Peptide‐mediated Aqueous Synthesis of NIR‐II Emitting Ag2S Quantum Dots for Rapid Photocatalytic Bacteria Disinfection

Abstract Pathogenic microorganisms in the environment are a great threat to global human health. The development of disinfection method with rapid and effective antibacterial properties is urgently needed. In this study, a biomimetic silver binding peptide AgBP2 was introduced to develop a facile synthesis of biocompatible Ag2S quantum dots (QDs). The AgBP2 capped Ag2S QDs exhibited excellent fluorescent emission in the second near‐infrared (NIR‐II) window, with physical stability and photostability in the aqueous phase. Under 808 nm NIR laser irradiation, AgBP2‐Ag2S QDs can serve not only as a photothermal agent to realize NIR photothermal conversion but also as a photocatalyst to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS). The obtained AgBP2‐Ag2S QDs achieved a highly effective disinfection efficacy of 99.06 % against Escherichia coli within 25 min of NIR irradiation, which was ascribed to the synergistic effects of photogenerated ROS during photocatalysis and hyperthermia. Our work demonstrated a promising strategy for efficient bacterial disinfection.