Interfacially self-assembled Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles decorated kaolinite for high performance anti-bacterial and anti-cancerous agents

Abstract

Nano-engineering of naturally occurring layered materials incorporates enhanced inherent properties for bionanotechnology. Here, kaolinite was treated with a concentrated aqueous ferrous sulfate solution at 100 °C for 1 h for surface modification. Therefore, interfacially self-assembled nanostructure of ferric oxide (Fe₂O₃) decorated kaolinite composites (FDKC) was fabricated from cationically (Fe²⁺) modified kaolinite (CMK) after calcinations at 680 °C. Characterized nanocomposites by ATR-IR, EDS, XRD and SEM were tested for antimicrobial activity and antibiofilm activity against Gram negative bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli), Klebsiella spp (K. spp) and Salmonella typhi (S typhi), as well as Gram positive Staphylococcus aureus, while cytotoxic activity was observed against HeLa cell. CMK and FDKC showed significantly higher antimicrobial activity and biofilm destruction ability than virgin kaolinite (p < 0.05). Besides, FDKC showed the highest anticancer activity in HeLa cell at moderate concentration. The synergistic effect of nanocomposites would offer the modulation of enhanced electronic and physical properties from a simple technology to improve inherent antimicrobial activity and cell toxicity of kaolinite for targeted assay.

Keywords:

• Nanostructured materials
• metal oxides
• hybride-nanocomposites
• antimicrobial activity
• cytotoxicity

Acknowledgements

The authors also acknowledge the assistance of Center for Advanced Research in Sciences, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000 from where characterization of materials at different stages was carried out.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work was financially supported by the University Grant Commission of Bangladesh with a project no 6(74) UGC/BOP/Physical-2/2017.