Nitrogen-doped graphene oxide studies aimed at the Bacillus subtillis proliferation

The Bacillus subtilis bacteria have been reported to be capable of degrading compounds derived from petroleum. Nitrogen-doped graphene oxide compounds were used for Bacillus subtilis proliferation studies. To achieve GO doping, hydrazine, thiourea, and urea were used as nitrogen precursors. The SEM micrographs show the bacteria on top of the surface of GO, revealing significant differences. The XPS analyzes allowed us to determine the C/N ratio, being the higher value of 3.63% for the GO doped with urea. This material showed the higher increasing rate of bacteria growing, while GO doped with thiourea, and GO doped with hydrazine, showed lower growth rate values in comparison with urea. The results obtained demonstrate the efficiency of our proposed materials used for B. subtilis growth. Thus, our bacteria/nitrogen-doped GO systems could be considered as a promissory model for possible applications in environmental remediation of soils or water.