Perylenediimide/silver nanohybrids with visible-light photocatalysis enhanced antibacterial effect

Bacterial infections cause severe threats to human health. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are promising antibacterial materials, but still confront poor colloidal stability and uncontrollable silver ion (Ag+) release. Here, a dye template strategy based on tunable perylenediimide (PDI) self-assembly is presented for constructing novel silver nanohybrids with visible-light photocatalysis enhanced antibacterial effect. Ultrasmall AgNPs are grown on diversiform topological PDI self-assembly-templates via in situ reduction to yield silver nanohybrids, achieving stable AgNPs dispersion. The developed fiber-like nanohybrids ([email protected]) are endowed with photocatalytic ability by PDI nanofiber templates. Upon visible-light irradiation, [email protected] generate reactive oxygen species via photocatalytic reaction, facilitating the AgNPs degradation to release Ag+ and concurrently exerting photocatalytic damage to bacteria. Consequently, the visible-light photocatalysis enhanced antibacterial effect of [email protected] against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli is achieved via synergetic Ag+ release and photocatalytic performance. This work not only provides a versatile molecular assembly strategy for developing new powerful antibacterial materials, but also opens up a new way for dye functionalization.