Rugby-ball like Ag modified zirconium porphyrin metal–organic frameworks nanohybrid for antimicrobial activity: synergistic effect for significantly enhancing photoactivation capacity

Abstract Despite of the current advancement in antibacterial material, the bacterial issues are still great challenges in health problems worldwide. Herein, Ag nanoparticles doped to zirconium porphyrin metal–organic frameworks (ZPM@Ag) were synthesized for antibacterial activity. The effect of different dosage of Ag nanoparticles on the antibacterial activity was also investigated. The morphology, porous microstructure, and composition of the prepared nanohybrids were characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD, FT-IR, XPS and BET analysis. The results revealed that the optimized antimicrobial efficiency was ZPM@Ag(2). The reactive oxygen species (ROS) production of ZPM@Ag(2) under visible light was obviously abundant than that in the dark, and moreover, the nanohybrid exhibited high antimicrobial efficacy. Furthermore, the antimicrobial mechanism of the prepared sample was also carefully investigated. The enhanced photoactivation antimicrobial activity could be ascribed to the synergistic effect between zirconium porphyrin MOFs (ZPM) and Ag nanoparticles, which possesses high specific surface area and abundant active sites due to the uniform rugby-ball like shape. ZPM@Ag(2) nanohybrid was demonstrated excellent stability even after five cycles. The antimicrobial Ag nanoparticles immobilized in photocatalytic antibacterial porous MOFs are expected to provide a guideline to broaden the applications of MOFs and design novel metal-based antibacterial nanomaterials.