Improved antibacterial activity and biocompatibility of porphyrin functionalized metal decorated reduced graphene oxide

In this work, a facile, environmentally friendly, and simple synthesis approach for the preparation of porphyrin-functionalized metal-decorated graphene through their unique and outstanding physicochemical properties is reported. In-vitro biocompatibility of the graphene-metal-porphyrin nanocomposites was assessed in the L929 cell line via the MTT reduction method. Further, the antibacterial activity of the graphene-metal-porphyrin nanocomposite was investigated and compared with bare graphene-porphyrin against gram-positive S. aureus (ATCC 6538) and gram-negative E. coli (ATTC 25922) bacteria using an MTT assay. As a result of the investigation, it is found that graphene-Ag-porphyrin exhibited excellent biocompatibility and antibacterial properties. The porphyrin functionalized with different metal-loading nanocomposites and their structural, morphologies along with linear optical properties were investigated by Raman, FTIR, XPS, FESEM, TEM, UV–vis, and PL. The enhanced biological properties of the composites arise mainly due to tailoring the proportion of covalent and non-covalent containing groups in the graphene layer, and the graphene-Ag-porphyrin scaffolds exhibit excellent bio-safety for further clinical translational use.