Fabrication of reduced graphene oxide and sliver nanoparticle hybrids for Raman detection of absorbed folic acid: a potential cancer diagnostic probe.

Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and silver nanoparticle (AgNP) hybrids (RGO-AgNP) were prepared by a facile one-pot method using Poly (N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) as reductant and stabilizer. Folic acid (FA) molecules were attached to the RGO-AgNP by physisorption for targeting specific cancer cells with folate receptors (FRs) and using as Raman reporter molecules. The internalization of the FA loaded RGO-AgNP (RGO-AgNP-FA) inside the FRs-positive cancer cell was confirmed by confocal laser scanning and transmission electron microscopy.