Enhanced antifungal properties of the Ag-decorated GO and rGO nanocomposites for medical applications

Microbial infection is a bane to living organisms, especially humans. It is difficult to treat these infections with commercial drugs. In this context, antifungal metal oxide and carbon-based nanohybrids are an alternative due to their synergistic properties. In this work, we synthesized silver-decorated graphene oxide (Ag/GO) nanocomposite using a simple co-precipitation method. In this way, spherical silver nanoparticles are uniformly distributed over the surface of the reduced GO (rGO). The synthesized samples were characterized using various physical-chemical characterization techniques. The antifungal activity of the Ag-decorated reduced graphene oxide (Ag/rGO) composites reveals the highest zone of inhibition towards Candida albicans. It has been found that nanohybrids possess antifungal properties against C. albicans, Candida krusei and Candida tropicalis. This depends on their concentration and time of use. In-vitro antifungal activity of Ag/rGO nanocomposite reveals a higher zone of inhibition against C. albicans. These nanocomposites are useful as nanofillers in biopolymer nanocomposites for antifungal materials and potential cancer therapeutic agents.