Robust synthesis and characteristics of novel one-dimensional gadolinium oxide nanorods decorated multiwalled carbon nanotubes based antibacterial nanocomposites for health care applications

Abstract

A facile and scalable chemical method for synthesizing one-dimensional (1D) gadolinium oxide nanorods decorated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) based nanocomposites (GNR) as antibacterial agents for biomedical applications is introduced in this paper. The hybrid nanocomposite was obtained by using gadolinium nitrate hexahydrate as gadolinium precursor and MWCNTs as resource material with hydrogen peroxide as a reducing agent and citric acid and cytosine as a reducing agent and stabilizers. The advanced nanocomposite was further studied using sophisticated techniques like XRD, FTIR, XPS, UV–Visible spectroscopy, Thermal Studies /TG-DTA analysis, SEM, TEM and EDS analysis. SEM and TEM studies reveal the simultaneous existence of nanorods and nanotubes in the prepared hybrid nanocomposite material. This kind of morphological orientation has significantly improved the nanocomposite’s antibacterial properties. The XPS studies depicts the binding energy of gadolinium oxide and MWCNTs. Different concentrations of nanocomposite and MWCNTs were tested against Gram −ve and gram +ve bacterial strains: Escherichia Coli, Staphylococcus Aureus, Klebsiella pneumonia, and Micrococcus luteus, respectively by disc diffusion method. Nanocomposite showed better performance against both types of bacteria, especially against gram +ve bacteria, in which MWCNTs did not establish any bacterial zone of inhibition. We believe that the developed advanced nanocomposite has enormous potential for healthcare applications based on these antibacterial properties.