An effective way to tailor the physicochemical properties of graphene film is developed by combining colloidal suspensions of reduced graphene oxide (rG‐O) nanosheets and exfoliated layered titanate nanosheets for the fabrication of freestanding hybrid films comprised of stacked and overlapped nanosheets. A flow‐directed filtration of such mixed colloidal suspensions yields freestanding hybrid films comprised of strongly‐coupled rG‐O and titanate nanosheets with tunable chemical composition. This is the first example of highly flexible hybrid films composed of graphene and metal oxide nanosheets. The intimate incorporation of layered titanate nanosheets into the graphene film gives rise not only to an increase of mechanical strength but also to increased surface roughness, chemical stability, and hydrophilicity; thus, the physicochemical properties of the graphene film can be tuned by hybridization with inorganic nanosheets. These freestanding hybrid films of rG‐O‐layered titanate show unprecedentedly high antibacterial property, resulting in the complete sterilization of Escherichia coli O157:H7 (≈100%) in the very short time of 15 min. The antibacterial activity of the hybrid film is far superior to that of the pure graphene film, underscoring the beneficial effect of the layered metal oxide nanosheets in improving the functionality of the graphene film.
Multicomponent Ag2CO3/Ag-layered Ti5NbO14 nanohybrids are synthesized by the crystal growth of silver carbonate on the surface of exfoliated layered titanoniobate 2D nanosheets. In the obtained nanohybrids, the spherical Ag2CO3 nanoparticles with a size of 5-10 nm are immobilized on the surface of the titanoniobate nanosheets with partial formation of neutral Ag metal caused by electron transfer from anionic titanoniobate nanosheets to silver cations. An electronic coupling between Ag2CO3/Ag and Ti5NbO14 nanosheets leads to a remarkable enhancement of visible light absorption and a significant depression of electron-hole recombination. The present Ag2CO3/Ag-layered Ti5NbO14 nanohybrids show much higher visible light photocatalytic activity than the unhybridized Ag2CO3, underscoring the beneficial effect of hybridization with metal oxide nanosheets on the photocatalytic activity of silver oxosalts. Before and after the photoreaction, the crystal structure and crystal morphology of the Ag2CO3/Ag-layered Ti5NbO14 nanohybrids remain unchanged, highlighting the excellent photostability of these materials. All the present experimental findings clearly demonstrate the usefulness of the exfoliation-crystal growth method in exploring novel efficient visible light active photocatalysts.
S. Park, S.‐J. Hwang, and co‐workers report the fabrication of strongly coupled hybrid films of reduced graphene oxide‐layered titanate with an unexpected high sterilization efficiency for Escherichia coli. On page 2288, E. coli cells exposed to the hybrid film are irreversibly destroyed by the edges of the nanosheets. The enhanced adhesion of bacteria on the rough surface of the hybrid films additionally contributes to their excellent antibacterial activity.
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