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Evaluation of Antimicrobial Activities of Nanoparticles and Nanostructured Surfaces In Vitro
Published on: April 21, 2023
Silver colloid nanoparticles: synthesis, characterization, and their antibacterial activity
Ales Panacek1, Libor Kvítek, Robert Prucek
1Department of Physical Chemistry, Palacký University, Svobody 26, 771 46 Olomouc, Czech Republic.
The Journal of Physical Chemistry. B
|August 18, 2006
Summary
This study presents a simple synthesis of silver nanoparticles using saccharides. The resulting nanoparticles exhibit potent antibacterial activity, particularly against resistant bacterial strains, with effectiveness dependent on particle size.
Area of Science:
- Nanotechnology
- Materials Science
- Microbiology
Background:
- Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) exhibit significant antimicrobial properties.
- Controlling the size and distribution of AgNPs is crucial for optimizing their efficacy.
- Developing simple and scalable synthesis methods for AgNPs is an ongoing research area.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a one-step synthesis method for silver colloid nanoparticles with controllable sizes.
- To investigate the influence of saccharides and reaction conditions on nanoparticle characteristics.
- To evaluate the antimicrobial activity of synthesized AgNPs against various bacteria.
Main Methods:
- Synthesis of silver nanoparticles via reduction of [Ag(NH(3))(2)](+) using four saccharides (glucose, galactose, maltose, lactose).
- Control of reaction parameters including ammonia concentration and pH.
- Characterization of nanoparticles using dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and UV/Visible absorption spectrophotometry.
- Assessment of antibacterial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
Main Results:
- A wide range of particle sizes (25-450 nm) with narrow size distributions were achieved, particularly at low ammonia concentrations.
- Maltose reduction yielded 25 nm silver nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution.
- Synthesized silver nanoparticles demonstrated high antimicrobial and bactericidal activity.
- Antibacterial efficacy was found to be size-dependent, with low silver concentrations (1.69 µg/mL) showing significant performance.
Conclusions:
- A facile one-step synthesis of size-tunable silver nanoparticles is achievable using saccharides.
- The synthesized silver nanoparticles possess potent broad-spectrum antibacterial activity, including against multidrug-resistant strains.
- Particle size is a critical factor influencing the antibacterial performance of silver nanoparticles.

