Facile synthesis and application of Ag-chemically converted graphene nanocomposite

An in situ chemical synthesis approach has been employed to prepare an Ag-chemically converted graphene (CCG) nanocomposite. The reduction of graphene oxide sheets was accompanied by generation of Ag nanoparticles. The structure and composition of the nanocomposites were confirmed by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray diffraction. TEM and AFM results suggest a homogeneous distribution of Ag nanoparticles (5–10 nm in size) on CCG sheets. The intensities of the Raman signals of CCG in such nanocomposites are greatly increased by the attached silver nanoparticles, i.e., there is surface-enhanced Raman scattering activity. In addition, it was found that the antibacterial activity of free Ag nanoparticles is retained in the nanocomposites, which suggests they can be used as graphene-based biomaterials.