Preparation, characterization, and biological assessment of functionalized reduced graphene oxide-silver nanocomposite

In this work, functionalized reduced graphene oxide-silver (FrGO-Ag) nanocomposite was synthesized to enhance the antimicrobial activity and biocompatibility of FrGO for infected wound burn treatment. The reduction of GO and FGO was confirmed by the removal of some of the oxygen functional groups (carbonyl and epoxy groups) as revealed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra. The face-centered cubic (fcc) silver nanoparticles were identified by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The contact time effect and the dose effect of the antimicrobial activity of rGO, FrGO, and FrGO-Ag nanocomposite toward Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans have been investigated. The cytotoxicity results of these compounds revealed that the functionalization by PVP and the decoration by AgNPs improved the biocompatibility of rGO sheets from 35.2 to 88% cell viability against the BJ1 normal human epithelial cell line.