Graphene nanoplatelets induced tailoring in photocatalytic activity and antibacterial characteristics of MgO/graphene nanoplatelets nanocomposites

TL;DR

This study reports on MgO/graphene nanoplatelets nanocomposites with enhanced photocatalytic and antibacterial properties, showing significant potential for wastewater treatment and nanomedicine applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel MgO/GNPs nanocomposite with optimized GNPs content that significantly improves photocatalytic and antibacterial performance over bare MgO.

Findings

MgO/GNPs nanocomposite achieves 97.23% photocatalytic degradation.

Enhanced antibacterial activity against pathogenic microorganisms.

Potential applications in wastewater treatment and nanomedicine.

Abstract

The synthesis, physical, photocatalytic, and antibacterial properties of MgO and graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) nanocomposites are reported. The crystallinity, phase, morphology, chemical bonding, and vibrational modes of prepared nanomaterials are studied. The conductive nature of GNPs is tailored via photocatalysis and enhanced antibacterial activity. It is interestingly observed that the MgO/GNPs nanocomposite with optimized GNPs content show a significant photocatalytic activity (97.23% degradation) as compared to bare MgO (43%) which makes it the potential photocatalyst for purification of industrial waste water. In addition, the effect of increased amount of GNPs on antibacterial performance of nanocomposites against pathogenic micro-organisms is researched, suggesting them toxic. MgO/GNPs 25% nanocomposite may have potential applications in waste water treatment and nanomedicine due its multifunctionality.