Developments of new and highly effective multifunctional materials have been shown great interest in recent years. Herein, we report a simple, cost efficient, one-step, surfactant-free cellular 3D-graphene/Ag nanocomposite using the freeze-casting method and explore it further for supercapacitor, catalytic, and antibacterial applications. FE-SEM and HRTEM analyses of nanocomposites revealed a 3D-cellular network structure having continuous micrometer size open pores with uniformly decorated Ag nanoparticles of an average size of 25 nm. An electrochemical study exhibited the highest specific capacitance at 845 Fg −1 at 5 mV s −1 and excellent cyclic retention ∼97% even after 1000 cycles. Further, 3D-graphene/Ag nanocomposites are applied as catalyst to reduce methylene blue using NaBH 4 . A rate of reduction above 99% was attained for 3D-graphene/Ag (40%) nanocomposites, which is significantly higher than that of pristine 3D-graphene. The network like structure of the 3D-graphene/Ag nanocomposite filtered out 37% of the population from total bacterial strains. Also, the 3D-graphene/Ag nanocomposite killed almost 100% of the bacterial strains after 3 h of incubation due to a merging effect of Ag ions and 3D-graphene.

Antibacterial activity of a CLF nanohybrid against E. coli 949 ESBL cefotaxime-resistant bacteria via the interaction of penicillin binding protein.

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The strong NIR absorbing LDH–Au nanohybrid exhibits efficient photothermal therapy and fluorescence imaging towards cancer cells.

Oxygen is ubiquitous in nature and it plays a key role in several biological processes, such as cellular respiration and food deterioration, to name a few. Currently, reversible and non-destructive oxygen sensing is usually performed with sensors produced by photosensitization of phosphorescent organometallic complexes. In contrast, we propose a novel route of optical oxygen sensing by fluorescence-based quenching of oxygen. We hereby developed for the first time a set of multi-emissive purely organic emitters. These were produced through a one-pot hydrothermal synthesis using p-phenylenediamine (PPD) and urea as starting materials. The origin of the multi-emission has been ascribed to the diversity of chemical structures produced as a result of oxidative oligomerization of PPD. A Bandrowski’s base (BB, i.e., trimer of PPD) is reported as the main component at reaction times higher than 8 h. This indication was confirmed by electrospray-ionization quadrupole time-of-flight (ESI-QTOF) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis. Once the emitters are embedded within a high molecular weight poly (vinyl alcohol) matrix, the intensities of all three emission centers exhibit a non-linear quenching provoked by oxygen within the range of 0–8 kPa. The detection limit of the emission centers are 0.89 kPa, 0.67 kPa and 0.75 kPa, respectively. This oxygen-dependent change in fluorescence emission is reversible (up to three tested 0–21% O2 cycles) and reproducible with negligible cross-interference to humidity. The cost-effectiveness, metal-free formulation, cross-referencing between each single emission center and the relevant oxygen range are all appealing features, making these sensors promising for the detection of oxygen, e.g., in food packaged products.