Biomolecule-assisted synthesis of Ag/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite with excellent electrocatalytic and antibacterial performance

•Biocompatible reduced graphene oxide/ Ag nanocomposite was synthesized based on cysteine- Ag nanoparticles.•The reaction was carried out at room temperature without any further reducer.•The nanocomposite displayed excellent antibacterial and electrocatalytic activity against glucose.

In this work, an environmentally friendly method was applied for the synthesis of aqueous suspension of l-cysteine modified Ag nanoparticles (NPs)-decorated reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanocomposite. l-cysteine played a triple role as reducing agent, stabilizer and linker of Ag NPs onto the surface of rGO. The resultant nanocomposite was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction studies (XRD), zeta potential, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive analysis of X-ray (EDX). Meanwhile, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum bacterial concentration (MBC), agar well diffusion and cyclic voltammetry (CV) techniques were used for the investigation of antibacterial and electrocatalytic behaviors of the nanocomposite, respectively. The obtained nanocomposite showed not only enhanced electrocatalytic activity for glucose but also excellent antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus).