International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences
ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 2 Number 4 (2013) pp. 1-11
The Antibacterial Activity of Graphite Oxide, Silver, Impregnated Graphite
Oxide with Silver and GO-Coated Sand Nanoparticles against Waterborne
Pathogenic E.coli BL21
I.Sheet1, H.Holail1, Z.Olama1*, A.Kabbani2 and M.Hines3
1Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science,
Beirut Arab University, Lebanon.
2School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Chemistry,
Lebanese American University, Lebanon.
3College of Sciences, Department of Biological Sciences,
University of Massachusetts Lowell, U.S.A
*Corresponding author e-mail: zakia.olama@bau.edu.lb
A B S T R A C T
Microbial contamination of drinking water is an environmental problem around the world that poses a great threat to human health and effective treatments are needed to solve such water pollution problems. In the present study, Nanostructured Graphite Oxide (GO) and low-cost GO coated with silver or sand nanoparticles were developed and characterized. Antibacterial efficacy of these nanoparticles was investigated using waterborne pathogenic E.coli strain. Two methods were used to test the antibacterial effect of the prepared nanoparticles against the bacterium under test: (a) Plate Assay Method and (b) Shake Flask Test. The results revealed that both tests showed slight inhibition of pathogenic E.coli with sand and Graphite Oxide nanoparticles. 0.1 to 1.5 mol.L-1 of impregnated GO with silver and GO-Coated Sand showed a higher bactericidal effect against the bacterium under test. Furthermore, the results showed the highest bacterial removal efficiency (100%) by the Coated Graphite Oxide and the lowest by sand filters with 17.9 % to 88.9 % reduction rate from 0 to 24 hours, respectively. Therefore, this study suggests that the filter system with GO composite can be used as an effective filter for water disinfection and production of potable and pathogens free drinking water.
Keywords
Antibacterial activity; Graphite oxide; GO-Coated Sand; Silver nanoparticles; Escherichia coli BL21.