Gold Nanoclusters-Decorated Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks with Reactive Oxygen Species Generation for Photoenhanced Antibacterial Study

The serious threat of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections has brought an urgent need for the development of new antibacterial nanomaterials. We encapsulate glutathione (GSH)-protected gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) in zeolitic imidazolate frameworks-8 (ZIF-8) and present their potential in antibacterial capabilities. Under white light irradiation, AuNCs-embedded ZIF-8 nanocomposites show assembly-enhanced emission and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. AuNCs@ZIF-8 exhibit almost complete inactivation of bacterial growth within 60 min of light irradiation. Scanning electron microscopic results show that AuNCs@ZIF-8 nanocomposites are captured by bacterial cells, and the leakage of alkaline phosphatase and nucleotides from bacteria demonstrate that the photoinduced ROS can easily destroy the bacterial surface and totally kill the bacteria. Herein, our antibacterial nanocomposites have photoenhanced bactericidal capability and show promising applications for sterilization.