Ultrasound-assisted synthesis and antibacterial activity of silver nanoparticles
An ultrasound-assisted method has proven rapid and cost effective for the production of GC-AgNps. The synthesised nanoparticles exhibited potent antibacterial activity against E. coli.
Silver nanoparticles (AgNps) properties are affected due to the high surface area to volume ratio. The high thermal stability has been proved to be more efficient as antibacterial than bulk silver. Due to antibiotic resistance, the AgNps become a powerful weapon against the re-emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria.
Researchers have synthesised colloidal AgNps by a combination of ultrasonication and chemical reduction method using gallic acid and chitosan, respectively. Different spectroscopic and microscopic techniques were used to characterise the biophysical properties GC-AgNps.
Stable for four weeks
The results revealed that as-synthesised gallic acid- chitosan modified silver nanoparticles (GC-AgNps) were monodispersed, spherical shape with an average size of 26.23 ± 9.92 nm, and stable for four weeks without any noticeable change in size. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) confirmed that as-synthesised GC-AgNps were face-centered cubic (FCC) crystalline structures and the most prominent Ag-O vibrations at 599 cm−1.
Further, GC-AgNps were studied for the antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli (E.coli) using a minimum inhibitory concentration at various concentrations of GC-AgNps. The sensibility caused by GC-AgNps against E. coli was 1 μg/mL after 120 min of exposure. The adopted method was rapid, facile and straightforward, affording stabilised GC-AgNPs that exhibited good antibacterial activity.
The study has been published in Progress in Organic Coatings, Volume 129, April 2019.
