Surface-Engineered Graphene Oxide–MXene–SLG Composite with Enhanced Bactericidal Properties

The increasing incidence of multidrug-resistant bacteria has generated an urgent need for innovative antimicrobial materials that inhibit microbial growth through physical and chemical surface interactions, as opposed to traditional biochemical methods. In this work, we synthesized a composite of graphene oxide (GO), single-layer graphene (SLG), and delaminated MXene (d-MXene) by an ultrasonication-assisted technique. The synthesized materials were characterized using powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM), and Energy-Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) with elemental mapping to examine the structure and morphology of the GO/SLG/d-MXene composite. Antimicrobial activity was evaluated against E. coli using the optical density method. The GO/SLG/d-MXene composite exhibited superior antibacterial activity compared to GO, SLG, and d-MXene. These results indicate that the GO/SLG/d-MXene composite may serve as a promising antibacterial material. These nanomaterials may be further explored for surface-related antimicrobial applications in healthcare, sanitation, and environmental settings such as coatings for medical devices, disinfectant surfaces in hospitals, and treatment of contaminated water sources.