Synthesis of biogenic chitosan-functionalized 2D layered MoS2 hybrid nanocomposite and its performance in pharmaceutical applications: In-vitro antibacterial and anticancer activity

A bacterial and viral infection causes life threatening diseases owing to the abuse of antibiotics and the development of antibiotic resistance microbes. Currently, biopolymers have been considered as the most promising materials in the medical field. Herein, the biogenic chitosan-functionalized MoS2 nanocomposite was prepared by the hydrothermal method with the liquid exfoliation process. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) results of chitosan–MoS2 hybrid nanocomposite revealed that MoS2 nanoparticle was found to be 42 nm with a hexagonal crystal structure. FTIR and Raman spectrum revealed that the nitrogen functionalities in the chitosan interacted with MoS2 to form the nanocomposite. The XPS spectrum of chitosan–MoS2 nanocomposite confirms that C, N, O, Mo, and S exist in the nanocomposite. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and Differential thermal analysis (DTA) analysis showed that the chitosan–MoS2 nanocomposite has higher thermal stability up to 600 °C. In the antibacterial application the chitosan–MoS2 hybrid nanocomposite shows zones of inhibition against S. aureus as 22, 28, and 32 mm, and against E. coli as 26, 30, and 35 mm. In the anticancer analysis, chitosan–MoS2 hybrid nanocomposites showed a maximum cell inhibition of 65.45% at 100 μg/mL−1, resulting in the most significant MCF-7 cell inhibition.