Counting Solutions of CSPs: A Structural Approach

Abstract

Scaling up the production of functional reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and its composites requires the use of low-cost, simple, and sustainable synthesis methods, and renewable feedstocks. In this study, silver oxide-decorated rGO (Ag_xO-rGO) composites were prepared by open-air combustion of mustard oil, essential oil-containing cooking oil commercially produced from the seeds of <i>Brassica juncea</i>. Silver oxide (Ag_xO) nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized using <i>Coleus aromaticus</i> leaf extract as a reducing agent. Formation of mustard seed rGO and Ag_xO NPs was confirmed by UV-visible characteristic peaks at 258 nm and 444 nm, respectively. rGO had a flake-like morphology and a crystalline structure, with Raman spectra showing clear D and G bands with an I_D/I_G ratio of 0.992, confirming the fewer defects in the as-prepared mustard oil-derived rGO (M-rGO). The rGO-Ag_xO composite showed a degradation efficiency of 81.9% with a rate constant <i>k</i>^-1 of 0.9506 min^-1 for the sodium salt of benzidinediazo-bis-1-naphthylamine-4-sulfonic acid (known as the azo dye Congo Red) in an aqueous solution under visible light irradiation. The composite also showed some antimicrobial activity against <i>Klebsilla pneomoniae</i>, <i>Escherichia</i><i>coli</i>, and <i>Staphylococcus</i><i>aureus</i> bacterial cells, with inhibition zones of ~15, 18, and 14 mm, respectively, for a concentration of 300 µg/mL. At 600 µg/mL concentration, the composite also showed moderate scavenging activity for 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl of ~30.6%, with significantly lower activities measured for Ag_xO (at ~18.1%) and rGO (~8%) when compared to control.