Correlation of edge truncation with antibacterial activity of plate-like anisotropic silver nanoparticles

The effect of silver nanoparticle anisotropy on the antibacterial properties has been studied against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus, Vibrio cholerae, and Streptococcus pyogenes. Anisotropic silver nanoparticles have been synthesized by solvothermal process. The UV-visible absorption, X-ray diffraction, and TEM studies show the anisotropic nature of silver nanoparticles. The results demonstrate that the anisotropic silver nanoparticles undergo a shape-dependent interaction with the bacteria, and the nanoparticles with higher anisotropy exhibit the superior antibacterial activity. Silver nanoparticles with sharp edges and corners displayed the stronger biocidal action, in comparison to the anisotropic nanoparticles with round edges and corners. The sharpness of the corners has been quantified using degree of truncation method. The variation in degree of truncation and the antibacterial activity follows the same pattern.