SnO2nanorods/graphene nanoplatelets nanocomposites: towards fast removal of malachite green and pathogen control.

The world is facing alarming challenges of environmental pollution due to uncontrolled water contamination and multiple drug resistance of pathogens. In this work, SnO2nanorods and SnO2/GNPs nanocomposites have been prepared. The length and diameter of nanorods are ca. 25±6 nm and 4±2 nm respectively. The optical bandgap energies change from 3.14 eV to 2.80 eV in SnO2and SnO2/GNPs nanocomposite (GS-I and GS-II). SnO2nanorods and multifunctional SnO2/GNPs nanocomposites have been tested as photocatalysts and nano-antibiotics. SnO2/GNPs nanocomposite (GS-II) completely removes (99.11%) malachite green in 12 min, under UV light exposure, which has been removed only 37% by neat SnO2nanorods in the same time. In visible light, GS-II removes 99.01% malachite green in 15 min, while SnO2removes the same only upto 24.7% in the same time. In addition, GS-II nanocomposite inhibits 79.57% and 78.51% growth of P. aeruginosa and S. aureus respectively. A synchronized contribution of SnO2and GNPs makes SnO2/GNPs nanocomposites (GS-II) an innovative multifunctional material for simultaneous fast and complete removal of malachite green and inhibition of drug resistant pathogens.