Facile in situ synthesis of hydrophilic RGO–CD–Ag supramolecular hybrid and its enhanced antibacterial properties

• A novel RGO-CD-Ag hybrid was firstly synthesized by a facile in situ process with the supramolecular β-cyclodextrin (CD) as a conjugation interface.
• It was found that the existed CD interface indeed influenced the surface hydrophilic property of the hybrid.
• The antibacterial activity of RGO-CD-Ag composites showed a remarkably enhanced performance compared with the contrast nanoparticles.

In this study, a novel hydrophilic RGO–CD–Ag hybrid with the supramolecular β-cyclodextrin (CD) as a conjugation interface was fabricated successfully by a facile in situ synthesis process. The results of several characterizations confirmed that the in situ reaction provided a straightforward approach to deposit the CD wrapped Ag nanoparticles onto the CD chemical functionalized RGO sheets through the head-to-head H-bond interactions between the linker CD molecules. Moreover, it was also found that the CD interface that existed indeed influences the structure and performances of RGO–CD–Ag nanocomposite. The analysis of the static contact angle revealed that the surface property of the hybrid could be transformed from hydrophobic to hydrophilic feature, which highly improved the aqueous dispersibility. And then, the bactericidal test of RGO–CD–Ag was demonstrated and clearly showed the strongest antibacterial activity against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria among all samples. In short, this method may readily provide a new family of supramolecular based materials expected to find applications beyond the bactericidal field.

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