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Visible-light-driven enhanced antibacterial and biofilm elimination activity of graphitic carbon nitride by embedded Ag nanoparticles

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Abstract

Semiconductor nanomaterials with photocatalytic activity have potential for many applications. An effective way of promoting photocatalytic activity is depositing noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) on a semiconductor, since the noble metal NPs act as excellent electron acceptors which inhibit the quick recombination of the photoexcited electron-hole pairs and thereby enhance the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Herein, a highly effective platform, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) nanosheets with embedded Ag nanoparticles (Ag/g-C3N4), was synthesized by a facile route. Under visible light irradiation, the ROS production of Ag/g-C3N4 nanohybrids was greatly improved compared with pristine g-C3N4 nanosheets, and moreover, the nanohybrids showed enhanced antibacterial efficacy and ability to disperse bacterial biofilms. We demonstrate for the first time that the Ag/g-C3N4 nanohybrids are efficient bactericidal agents under visible light irradiation, and can also provide a new way for biofilm elimination. The enhanced antibacterial properties and biofilm-disrupting ability of Ag/g-C3N4 nanohybrids may offer many biomedical applications.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Division of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin, 130022, China

    Wei Bing, Zhaowei Chen, Hanjun Sun, Peng Shi, Nao Gao, Jinsong Ren & Xiaogang Qu

  2. College of Life Science, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, 130012, China

    Wei Bing

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  1. Wei Bing
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  2. Zhaowei Chen
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  3. Hanjun Sun
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  4. Peng Shi
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  5. Nao Gao
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  6. Jinsong Ren
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  7. Xiaogang Qu
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Correspondence to Xiaogang Qu.

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Bing, W., Chen, Z., Sun, H. et al. Visible-light-driven enhanced antibacterial and biofilm elimination activity of graphitic carbon nitride by embedded Ag nanoparticles. Nano Res. 8, 1648–1658 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-014-0654-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-014-0654-1

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