Green syntheses of silver nanoparticle decorated reduced graphene oxide using l-methionine as a reducing and stabilizing agent for enhanced catalytic hydrogenation of 4-nitrophenol and antibacterial activity

Herein, we have reported a facile and green synthesis approach of Ag NP decorated reduced graphene oxide (RGO) through an in situ self-assembly method in the presence of l-methionine (l-Met) as reducing and stabilizing agent. The electronic properties, crystal structure, and morphology of the as-synthesized RGO-Ag nanocomposite were investigated by UV-Visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, Fourier transform-infrared (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. UV-Vis and FTIR show the effective reduction of GO and the formation of Ag NPs using l-Met. FESEM, TEM, and XRD analysis show the successful impregnation of Ag NPs into RGO with a 23 nm average crystallite size. The RGO-Ag nanocomposite with NaBH4 shows a fast-catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AMP). The enhanced catalytic activity of RGO-Ag nanocomposites can be attributed to the synergistic effect of improved adsorption capacity and the absence of agglomeration of Ag nanoparticles. Moreover, RGO-Ag showed strong antibacterial activity against B. subtilis and E. coli.