ABSTRACT The development of flexible, reusable, and eco-friendly materials that address both water pollution and microbial contamination remains a challenge. Here, we report a green-synthesized, flexible silver nanoparticle-polyvinyl alcohol (AgNPs/PVA) nanocomposite foldable film engineered through Argyreia nervosa (AN) leaf extracts, achieving dual photocatalytic and antimicrobial functionality through interfacial design. By controlling AgNPs concentration, we demonstrate morphological control from nanowires to spherical nanoparticles (21.4±4.1 nm), directly influencing the optoelectronic properties (SPR at 446 nm tunable optical band gaps). The optimized film (2.4 mg/ml AgNPs) shows 98% photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light while exhibiting first-order degradation kinetics. Pristine PVA films used as negative controls showed less than 5% degradation under identical conditions. The AgNPs/PVA nanocomposite flexible film achieves exceptional antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli (E. coli) . A formulation containing 2.2 mg/mL of AgNPs exhibits a fourfold enhancement in efficacy over pristine PVA (negative control), comparable to standard gentamicin disks (positive control, 2.4 cm inhibition zone vs. 2.0 cm for our film). Enhanced thermal-mechanical stability and reusability (over 90% activity after 3 cycles) confirm robust polymer nanoparticle integration (nanoconfinement). This dual-function platform enables portable water purification for remote field operations and antimicrobial wound management, bridging sustainable materials design with practical environmental and biomedical needs.
Kathi et al. (2026) studied this question.