Together is better: How mixtures of organic filters mitigate the photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 and ZnO

Together is better: How mixtures of organic filters mitigate the photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 and ZnO | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Together is better: How mixtures of organic filters mitigate the photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 and ZnO Mattia Battistin, Alessia Minisini, Andrea Brunetta, Fabio Brunetta, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6314741/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The sunscreen market has witnessed a significant shift towards mineral filters, particularly zinc oxide (ZnO) and titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ), due to their lower toxicological profile and lack of endocrine-disrupting properties associated with some organic filters. There is, however, an important knowledge gap about the potential impact of ZnO and TiO 2 on the (unwanted) photocatalytic degradation of organic filters in sunscreen formulations, which would significantly decrease their protecting efficacy towards the ultraviolet radiation. In this study, we investigate the degradation kinetics of six recurrent organic filters in the presence and absence of either ZnO or TiO 2 . The obtained results confirm a Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism for the degradation process, with a noteworthy contribution from ZnO and TiO 2 acting as photocatalysts. Interestingly, the study also reveals that a mixture of organic filters can modulate the photocatalytic activity of the metal oxides, emphasizing the need for further investigation into optimizing sunscreen formulations in terms of both safety and effectiveness, and opens promising strategies for developing sunscreens with enhanced stability and protection. Physical sciences/Chemistry Physical sciences/Chemistry/Catalysis/Photocatalysis Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences/Environmental impact Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files SupplementaryInformationPhotocatalyticActivityBattistin2025.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6314741","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":438376049,"identity":"9cf9c29c-dd31-4566-a2dd-f5a6eb5f8e7e","order_by":0,"name":"Mattia Battistin","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Kalis Srl","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mattia","middleName":"","lastName":"Battistin","suffix":""},{"id":438376050,"identity":"0940d7db-41be-4334-94a2-a9b569e145d6","order_by":1,"name":"Alessia Minisini","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of 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There is, however, an important knowledge gap about the potential impact of ZnO and TiO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e on the (unwanted) photocatalytic degradation of organic filters in sunscreen formulations, which would significantly decrease their protecting efficacy towards the ultraviolet radiation.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn this study, we investigate the degradation kinetics of six recurrent organic filters in the presence and absence of either ZnO or TiO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e. The obtained results confirm a Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism for the degradation process, with a noteworthy contribution from ZnO and TiO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e acting as photocatalysts. Interestingly, the study also reveals that a mixture of organic filters can modulate the photocatalytic activity of the metal oxides, emphasizing the need for further investigation into optimizing sunscreen formulations in terms of both safety and effectiveness, and opens promising strategies for developing sunscreens with enhanced stability and protection.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Together is better: How mixtures of organic filters mitigate the photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 and ZnO","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-04-07 11:23:47","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6314741/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"2f800039-4f5e-467b-af59-c7e566f9362d","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 7th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":46681100,"name":"Physical sciences/Chemistry"},{"id":46681101,"name":"Physical sciences/Chemistry/Catalysis/Photocatalysis"},{"id":46681102,"name":"Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences/Environmental impact"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-04-23T07:09:30+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-04-07 11:23:47","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-6314741","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-6314741","identity":"rs-6314741","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}