Sonochemical synthesis and stabilization of concentrated antimicrobial silver-chitosan nanoparticle dispersions

Abstract

This work reports on a green synthetic route to produce concentrated aqueous dispersions of silver nanoparticles (AgNP) employing high-intensity ultrasound (US) and chitosan (CS) as a non-toxic reducing agent for Ag1 salts and AgNP stabilizer. The sonication simultaneously boosted the synthesis and improved the stability of the AgNP, capping them with CS. Hybrid AgNP-CS antimicrobial dispersions, stable for at least 6 months, were synthesized in a simple single step process. The use of US allowed for applying relatively mild processing temperatures (608C) and reaction time between 30 min and 3 h to obtain concentrated disper- sions of AgNP that otherwise could not be obtained even after 72 h under mechanical stirring at the same reaction conditions. Upon sonication spherical AgNP-CS with a size between 60 and 100 nm were generated, in contrast to the average diameter of 200 nm of the particles obtained by stirring. The antibacterial efficiency of the AgNP-CS hybrids was evaluated against the medically relevant pathogens Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. The US-synthesized AgNP-CS showed more than 3-fold higher antibacterial activity compared to the particles obtained under stirring, due to their higher concentration and smaller size.