Triple helical polysaccharide-induced good dispersion of silver nanoparticles in water

Silver nanoparticles were constructed by using triple helical polysaccharide (lentinan) dissolved in water as matrix for the first time. The structure, morphology, and size of the nanocomposites in the polysaccharide aqueous solutions were investigated with UV-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and dynamic laser light scattering (DLS). The results revealed that the silver nanoparticles were attached to the polysaccharide chains through the strong noncovalent interactions, leading to the good dispersion of silver nanoparticles with mean radius of 6 nm in water. The silver nanoparticles were stable in the lentinan aqueous solution for 9 months. However, with an addition of NaOH, the polysaccharide with the imperfect helical structure broken partially by NaOH could aggregate in the alkali aqueous solution. The aggregation of the lentinan-bonded silver nanoparticles increased with an increase in the NaOH concentration, whereas the size of the silver nanoparticles barely changed, further confirming that the Ag nanoparticles were stable in this system. The aggregation was related to the conformation transition of the polysaccharide from the triple helix to random coil in the solution. A new method to detect the aggregates and aggregation rate was established according to the intensity of the maximum absorption peaks of the polysaccharide labeled by Ag nanoparticles in the UV spectrum.