Ag-TaN sputtered on polyester (PES) accelerated >6 times the bacterial inactivation kinetics compared to TaN-PES under actinic light irradiation. Direct current pulsed magnetron sputtering (DCP) was used to sputter Ag-TaN-PES and TaN-PES. Complete bacterial reduction by Ag-TaN occurred within 20 min compared to Ag-TiN (100 min) and Ag-ZrN (90 min). The co-sputtering of Ag and Ta on PES was carried out in an Ar/N-2 10% atmosphere. By ion-coupled plasma mass-spectrometry (ICP-MS) a reduced Ag-release was observed for Ag-TaN samples compared to Ag-PES samples within the disinfection period. The redox catalysis by the Ag-species during the bacterial disinfection was followed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). A bacterial reduction mechanism is suggested consistent with the experimental findings. The nitride films were characterized by surface science methods. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.