Enhanced antibacterial and photocatalytic activities of silver nanoparticles anchored reduced graphene oxide nanostructure

Abstract

The nanocomposites with sliver (Ag) nanoparticle and Reduced Graphene Oxide (r-GO) has shown promising potential application for wastewater treatment due to their outstanding chemical and biological properties. In the present work, the Ag nanoparticles anchored r-GO (r-GO/Ag) nanocomposite was prepared by one-pot in situ chemical reduction technique. The synthesized composites were characterized by powder x-ray diffraction (XRD), x-ray photoelectron microscopy (XPS), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and UV-visible spectroscopy techniques. The result revealed that the dispersion of Ag nanoparticle with an average size of 24 nm on r-GO and it confirms the formation of nanocomposites. With the synergetic effect of Ag nanoparticles on r-GO displayed the significant antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Gram-negative Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria using agar well diffusion method. Moreover, the photocatalytic performance of the nanocomposites was evaluated under visible light irradiation using Methylene Blue (MB) as well as Rhodamine B (RhB) as model organic pollutants which showed the superior catalytic activities. It is suggested that the (r-GO/Ag) nanocomposite would be the material for wastewater treatment with combined antibacterial and photocatalytic activities.