Nanolayered Metal Phosphates as Biocompatible Reservoirs for Antimicrobial Silver Nanoparticles

There is an increasing demand on synthesizing pharmaceuticals and biomaterials that possess antimicrobial and/or antiviral activities. In this respective silver nanoparticles are known for their excellent antimicrobial activity. Nevertheless, their uncontrolled release in a biological medium can induce a cytotoxic effect. For this, we explored the use of nanolayered metal phosphates based on titanium and zirconium as materials that can be enriched with silver nanoparticles. Employing the hydrothermal route, crystalline α-phases of zirconium and titanium phosphates (α-ZrP, α-TiP) were synthesized and there after surface-enriched with silver nanoparticles. The structural assessment confirmed the stability of the structures and their sizes are in the nanoscale at least in one dimension. The cytocompatibility assays confirmed the biocompatibility of the pristine phases and the antimicrobial assay confirmed that both silver-enriched nanolayered structures maintain an antibacterial effect at reasonably low concentrations.