Enhanced Antibacterial Effect of Polypyrazole-Graphene Oxide Composite

Besides excellent physical performances, graphene oxide (GO) has been widely acknowledged as a potential antibacterial material. Chemical modification of GO was taken out with polypyrazole by facile amidation in the presence of dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCC) and then generated polypyrazole-graphene oxide (FGO) nanohybrid. FGO nanohybrid showed smooth and multilayer structures by scanning electron microscopy. The value of static water contact angle of FGO is 103o, suggesting FGO was a hydrophobic material. Thermo gravimetric analysis of FGO showed a 65% mass loss up 50 to 600 degrees C, suggesting that FGO is a thermal stability material. Inactivation efficiency test of nominal Escherichia coli cells showed that the viability greatly decreased to 7% after 4 h incubation with FGO under 37 degrees C, indicating an outstanding antibacterial ability of FGO much better than that of polypyrazole and GO.