Fabrication of naringenin functionalized-Ag/RGO nanocomposites for potential bactericidal effects

Abstract

Flavonoid mediated exfoliation and synthesis of multipurpose plasmonic-2D hybrid nanocomposite has attracted much appreciation in recent years because of their combinational effects. In this study, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) decorated reduced graphene oxide (NAR@Ag/RGO) nanocomposites were fabricated via a facile one-step reduction method using an important bioactive flavonoid naringenin (NAR) as the reducing/ stabilizing agent. The physio-chemical properties of synthesized NAR@Ag/RGO nanocomposites were studied by using UV–vis, Raman, FT-IR, XRD, and HR-TEM techniques. The active hydroxyl (OH) and carbonyl (CO) functional groups mainly involves in the reduction of GO/AgNO3 and formation of nanohybrid composites. Moreover, the XRD planes at 38.3 (111), 44.2 (200), 64.6 (220), and 77.8° (311) recorded for the above-mentioned composite indicates the adsorption of face-centered cubic crystalline (fcc) AgNPs on RGO surface. The HR-TEM micrographs displayed spherical AgNPs with an average size of 16.3 ± 4.4 nm on transparent sheets. In vitro antibacterial studies demonstrated better inhibitory effects of obtained NAR@Ag/RGO nanocomposite than the free-NAR against the tested pathogens. The outcome of this study provides an easy sustainable and cost-effective approach to fabricate Ag-RGO hybrid composites for antibacterial applications.

Keywords

• Reduced graphene oxide
• Silver nanoparticles
• Naringenin
• Nanocomposites
• Antibacterial.