Silver nanoparticles @ titanate nanotubes composite: Synthesis, characterization, applications and docking

Abstract

This work is devoted to the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in the inner walls of titanate nanotubes (Ag/TNTs) by two synthetic approaches. First, a suspension of silver nitrate and pre-synthesized TNTs is expose to UV irradiation; the mixture is evaporating until dry, thereafter the dry precursor is heat at 100 °C (Ag/TNTs-100). Latter sample, a pre-calcination of TNTs at 400 °C is carried out before being used as a host material for UV-initiated photoreduction of silver nitrate (Ag/TNTs-P400). The successful formation of Ag/TNTs nanocomposites was examined using HRTEM, XRD, UV–vis, FT-IR spectroscopy and N2 adsorption measurements. The latter (Ag/TNTs-P400) induced a facile synthesis of AgNPs in the inner open-end walls of TNTs than the former (Ag/TNTs-100), as evidenced by the HRTEM results. Further, the XRD pattern of Ag/TNTs-P400 revealed the transformation of the layered structure of TNTs into three-dimensional TiO2 NTs with the calcination process. Ag/TNTs-P400 exhibited the highest photocatalytic degradation of MB than the rest. In vitro cytotoxic activity of TNTs and Ag/TNTs against the tested breast cancer cell lines showed that Ag/TNTs-P400 (IC50 = 8.58 µg/mL) maintained the highest anti-cancer activity compared to other samples. The geometry optimization was done using DFT with B3LYP/6- 311G* level. The docking study suggested that both TNTs-400 and Ag/TNTs-P400 have good inhibitor affinities against different bacterial kinase active sites.