Synthesis of dual-phase Ti3O5/Ti4O7 nanofibers for efficient adsorption of SARS-CoV-2

In this study, we synthesized the dual-phase Ti3O5/Ti4O7 nanofibers for efficient adsorption of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a life-threatening virus being taking millions of people lives. The Ti3O5/Ti4O7 nanofibers were synthesized by preparation of H2Ti3O7 precursor, polydopamine coating and furnace calcination. Protein and phospholipid adsorption assays showed that the dual-phase nanofibers had much higher affinity to both the model molecules bovine serum album (BSA) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) than the control single-phase Ti6O11 nanofibers. Consistently, the dual-phase nanofibers exhibited much stronger adsorption ability to SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus than Ti6O11. This study sheds a light on titanium oxide nanomaterials to adsorb SARS-CoV-2 for avoiding its infection and for enriching it during rapid virus detection.