Near-Infrared Light-Triggered Bacterial Eradication Using a Nanowire Nanocomposite of Graphene Nanoribbons and Chitosan-Coated Silver Nanoparticles

Ming Zhou; Hui-Qi Gan; Guo-Rong Chen; Tony D James; Bin Zhang; Qiang Hu; Fugui Xu; Xi-Le Hu; Xiao-Peng He; Yiyong Mai

doi:10.3389/fchem.2021.767847

Near-Infrared Light-Triggered Bacterial Eradication Using a Nanowire Nanocomposite of Graphene Nanoribbons and Chitosan-Coated Silver Nanoparticles

Front Chem. 2021 Oct 27:9:767847. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2021.767847. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Ming Zhou¹, Hui-Qi Gan², Guo-Rong Chen², Tony D James^{3

4}, Bin Zhang¹, Qiang Hu¹, Fugui Xu⁵, Xi-Le Hu², Xiao-Peng He², Yiyong Mai⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of General Surgery, Shanghai Xuhui District Dahua Hospital, Shanghai, China.
² Feringa Nobel Prize Scientist Joint Research Center, Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Joint International Research Laboratory of Precision Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China.
³ Department of Chemistry, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom.
⁴ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, China.
⁵ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Frontiers Science Center for Transformative Molecules, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Thermal Ageing, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Bacterial infection is a major threat to human health. However, many antibacterial agents currently used are severely limited due to drug-resistance, and the development of side effects. Herein, we have developed a non-antibiotic nanocomposite consisting of chitosan (ChS) coated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and graphene nanoribbon (GNR)-based nanowires for light-triggered eradication of bacteria. The presence of AgNP/ChS significantly enhanced the interactions of the GNR nanowires with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a clinically common Gram-negative bacterium. Which enables the highly effective photothermal eradication of bacteria by GNR upon near-infrared light irradiation. The nanocomposite was shown to be applicable for the light-triggered eradication of bacterial biofilms and the inhibition of bacterial growth on medical patches used for abdominal-wall hernia surgery.

Keywords: antibiotic; chitosan; graphene nanoribbons; nanocomposite; silver nanoparticles.