Immobilized WO3 nano-particles on graphene oxide as a photo-induced antibacterial agent against UV resistant Bacillus Pumilus

We present the antibacterial and photo-catalytic activity of immobilized WO3 nanoparticles on graphene oxide sheets. WO3 nanoparticles were immobilized on graphene oxide using the arc discharge method in arc currents of 5, 20, 40 and 60 A. Tauc plots of the UV–visible spectra show that the band gap of the prepared samples decreases (to ~2.7 eV) with respect to the WO3 nanoparticles. Photo-catalytic activity was examined by the degradation of rhodamine B under ultra-violet irradiation and the results show that the photo-catalytic activity of WO3 nanoparticles is increased by immobilizing them on graphene oxide sheets. In addition, the photo-degradation yield of the samples prepared by the 5 A arc current is 84% in 120 min, which is more than that of the other samples. The antibacterial activity of the prepared samples was studied against Bacillus pumilus (B. pumilus) bacteria, showing high resistance to ultra-violet exposure. Our results show that the bare and immobilized WO3 nanoparticles become more active under UV irradiation and their antibacterial properties are comparable with Ag nanoparticles. Besides this, the results show that although the photo-catalytic activity of the post-annealed samples at 500 °C is less than the as-prepared samples, it is, however, more active against B. pumilus bacteria under UV irradiation.