Regulating size of silver nanoparticles on calcium carbonate via ultrasonic spray for effective antibacterial...

Calcium carbonate is used as bone-filling material due to its good biocompatibility, bioactivity, and bioabsorbability, but the prevalence of infectious complications associated with calcium carbonate has created a persisting challenge in the treatment of bone defect. Therefore, this greatly necessitate the need to endow calcium carbonate with antibacterial properties. In this study, calcium carbonate powders loaded with silver nanoparticles (Ag-CaCO₃) were prepared in attempt to serve as a novel antibacterial inorganic filler material. This objective was achieved using ultrasonic spray-pyrolysis (USSP) route to produce Ag-CaCO₃ with 1, 5 and 10 mol% silver. The size of silver nanoparticles on CaCO₃ microspheres could be regulated by adjusting silver concentration to facilitate effective release of Ag⁺ ions. This was demonstrated in Ag-CaCO₃ (1), where the lowest silver content at 1 mol% achieved the highest Ag⁺ ions release over 28 days. This in turn gave rise to effective antibacterial efficiency against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Furthermore, CaCO₃ (1) could also support osteoblast-like cells (MG-63) at a cell viability of 80%. Overall, this work extends the capabilities in employing USSP to produce inorganic filler materials with sustained antibacterial properties, bringing one step closer to the development of antibacterial products.