Shape selective silver nanostructures decorated amine-functionalized graphene: A promising antibacterial platform

Antibacterial nanoparticles offer great promise in various fields ranging from environmental to biomedical and biosensors. In this article we design a novel antibacterial material based on reduced graphene oxide (RGO) decorated with different shape of silver nanostructures. To control the size and shape of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on RGO sheets, composites of RGO decorated with different shape of AgNPs were synthesized using dimethylformamide (DMF) as reducing and coupling agent for reduction of graphene oxide (GO) and attachment of various shapes of AgNPs on RGO sheets. The results revealed that triangular AgNPs have highest antibacterial activity among different shapes of AgNPs against both gram-negative Escherichia coli (E. coli) and gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) bacteria as representatives of bacteria species. In addition, results obtained in this study have showed that among different AgNPs/RGO nanocomposites, Ag triangles/RGO sample possess the best antibacterial property. It is suggested that the antibacterial activity of the prepared antibacterial platform, strongly depends on the shape of AgNPs on the surface of RGO, which could effectively use as antibacterial agent.