Rapid synthesis and decoration of reduced graphene oxide with gold nanoparticles by thermostable peptides for memory device and photothermal applications

This article presents novel, rapid, and environmentally benign synthesis method for one-step reduction and decoration of graphene oxide with gold nanoparticles (NAuNPs) by using thermostable antimicrobial nisin peptides to form a gold-nanoparticles-reduced graphene oxide (NAu-rGO) nanocomposite. The formed composite material was characterized by UV/Vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). HR-TEM analysis revealed the formation of spherical AuNPs of 5–30 nm in size on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets. A non-volatile-memory device was prepared based on a solution-processed ZnO thin-film transistor fabricated by inserting the NAu-rGO nanocomposite in the gate dielectric stack as a charge trapping medium. The transfer characteristic of the ZnO thin-film transistor memory device showed large clockwise hysteresis behaviour because of charge carrier trapping in the NAu-rGO nanocomposite. Under positive and negative bias conditions, clear positive and negative threshold voltage shifts occurred, which were attributed to charge carrier trapping and de-trapping in the ZnO/NAu-rGO/SiO2 structure. Also, the photothermal effect of the NAu-rGO nanocomposites on MCF7 breast cancer cells caused inhibition of ~80% cells after irradiation with infrared light (0.5 W cm−2) for 5 min.