Unique chemical grafting of carbon nanoparticle on fabricated ZnO nanorod: Antibacterial and bioimaging property

Abstract This manuscript describes intrinsic chemical grafting of highly fluorescent carbon nanoparticle (CNP) on to the surface of fabricated ZnO nanorod, with antibacterial property of the nanohybrid against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria and its bio-imaging properties. For chemical grafting of CNPs on the surface of ZnO nanorods, amine groups were introduced to ZnO followed by the reaction with activated CNPs. The prepared CNP grafted ZnO nanorods preserved good dispersity along with uniformity in size distribution. Studies on antibacterial activity of CNP grafted ZnO nanorod against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli proved to be successful in both the cases; however, its efficacy was marginally less than ZnO nanorod itself. This unique chemical grafting made the nanohybrid fluorescent which emitted bright green light under UV underscoring its value as a biomarker. This fluorescent nanohybrid was effectively introduced in S. aureus cell by simple incubation with successful imaging under fluorescent microscope.