Targeted photothermal ablation of pathogenic bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus, with nanoscale reduced graphene oxide

Abstract

Nowadays, bacterial infection is very common in the world. As a result of overusing antibiotics, several human pathogenic bacteria have become resistant to most of the clinically approved antibiotics. This has created an urgent need for the development of new methods to kill pathogenic bacteria. Here, we describe a novel method for the selective killing of pathogenic bacteria using antibody functionalized nanoscale reduced graphene oxide (NRGO). The antibody–NRGO complex exhibited little toxicity without near-infrared (NIR) irradiation. However, when irradiated with a NIR laser at a low power density (400 mW cm⁻²), the antibody–NRGO complex exhibited excellent photothermal properties and killed captured pathogenic bacteria specifically.