Wrapping Bacteria by Graphene Nanosheets for Isolation from Environment, Reactivation by Sonication, and Inactivation by Near-Infrared Irradiation

Bioactivity of Escherichia coli bacteria (as a simple model for microorganisms) and interaction of them with the environment were controlled by their capturing within aggregated graphene nanosheets. The oxygen-containing functional groups of chemically exfoliated single-layer graphene oxide nanosheets were reduced by melatonin as a biocompatible antioxidant. While each one of the graphene (oxide) suspension and melatonin solution did not separately show any considerable inactivation effects on the bacteria, aggregation of the sheets in the melatonin-bacterial suspension resulted in trapping the bacteria within the aggregated sheets, i.e., a kind of inactivation. The bacteria trapped within the aggregated…

• SU
  Sharif University of Technology
• IN
  Iran Nanotechnology Initiative Council