Synthesis and optimization of graphene oxide/silver nanoparticles nanocomposites

It is known that graphene oxide (GO)/silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have become especially popular in biomedical research due to their unique structures and properties. GO and AgNPs can be used together to improve their dispersion properties, including antibacterial and catalytic activity as well as thermal conductivity. The synergistic properties of these hybrid materials have proven useful in a variety of applications such as electronics, catalysis, electrochemical, biosensing, drug delivery and antimicrobial agents. In this study, dispersion was prepared by mixing GO synthesized according to Hummers method and AgNPs obtained as a result of reduction of silver nitrate with glucose. The effect of four factors such as the amount of GO, the amount of AgNPs, the ultrasonic processing time (UPT), the amount of deionized water (DIW), on the dispersion properties of GO/AgNPs was analyzed statistically. Analysis of the GO/AgNPs dispersion properties such as electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, particle size and zeta potential was performed using main effect plots. The mean and standard deviation of the particle size distribution of the GO/AgNPs dispersion obtained under optimum conditions were found to be 164.395 nm and 17.38 nm, respectively. In addition, the mean and standard deviation of the zeta potential of the dispersion were determined as -44 mV and 0.42 mV, respectively. It was observed that the zeta potential of the synthesized GO/AgNPs dispersions was varied between -30 mV and -60 mV. GO/AgNPs dispersions with a small particle size and high stability can be used for dispersion applications.