Silver Decorated 2D Nanosheets of GO and MoS2 serve as Nanocatalyst for Water Treatment and Antimicrobial Applications as ascertained with Molecular Docking Evaluation*

Synthesized Ag-MoS2 and Ag-rGO were evaluated through XRD that confirmed the hexagonal structure of MoS2 along with the transformation of GO to Ag-rGO as indicated by a shift in XRD peaks while Mo–O bonding and S=O functional groups were confirmed with FTIR. Optical properties of GO, MoS2, Ag-rGO, and Ag-MoS2 were visualized through UV–vis and PL spectroscopy. Prepared products were employed as nanocatalysts to purify industrial wastewater. Experimental results revealed that Ag-rGO and Ag-MoS2 showed 99% and 80% response in photocatalytic activity. Besides, the nanocatalyst (Ag-MoS2 and Ag-rGO) exhibited 6.05 mm inhibition zones against S. aureus gram positive (G+) and 3.05 mm for E. coli gram negative (G-) in antibacterial activity. To rationalize biocidal mechanism of Ag-doped MoS2 NPs and Ag-rGO, in silico molecular docking study was employed for two enzymes i.e. β-lactamase and D-alanine-D-alanine ligase B (ddlB) from cell wall biosynthetic pathway and enoyl-[acylcarrier-protein] reductase (FabI) from fatty acid biosynthetic pathway belonging to S. aureus. The present study provides evidence for the development of cost-effective, environment friendly and viable candidate for photocatalytic and antimicrobial applications.