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Synthesis of Reduced Graphene Oxide-Silver Nanocomposites and Assessing Their Toxicity on the Green Microalga Chlorella vulgaris

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Abstract

The growing demands for nanotechnology in the recent years have resulted in environmental release of nanomaterials. In the current study, reduced graphene oxide-silver nanocomposites (Ag-rGO) were synthesized by an easy method and their characteristics were determined using X-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. Subsequently, toxicity of Ag-rGO was examined on the marine microalga Chlorella vulgaris. After treatment of algal cells with different concentrations of Ag-rGO for 24 h, growth parameters have been significantly decreased. In addition, a considerable reduction in viability of the treated cells was designated. Further considerable effects of Ag-rGO treatments have been revealed by increments in the activities of a number of antioxidant enzymes and reductions in the photosynthetic pigment contents. Our results showed that the main toxic effects of Ag-rGO are associated with the presence of Ag nanoparticles in the structure of these nanocomposites.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are indebted to R. Tarrahi for critically reading the manuscript. The authors thank the University of Tabriz, Iran, for all the support provided.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

    Fatemeh Nazari & Ali Movafeghi

  2. Research Institute for Fundamental Sciences (RIFS), University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

    Saeed Jafarirad

  3. Drug Applied Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Morteza Kosari-Nasab

  4. Dental and Periodontal Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

    Baharak Divband

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  1. Fatemeh Nazari
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  2. Ali Movafeghi
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Correspondence to Ali Movafeghi.

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Nazari, F., Movafeghi, A., Jafarirad, S. et al. Synthesis of Reduced Graphene Oxide-Silver Nanocomposites and Assessing Their Toxicity on the Green Microalga Chlorella vulgaris. BioNanoSci. 8, 997–1007 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12668-018-0561-0

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