Back
Micro-organism-triggered release of silver nanoparticles from biodegradable oxide carriers allows preparation of self-sterilizing polymer surfaces.
Journal article

Micro-organism-triggered release of silver nanoparticles from biodegradable oxide carriers allows preparation of self-sterilizing polymer surfaces.

  • 2008-04-18
Published in:
  • Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany). - 2008
Aspergillus niger
Escherichia coli
Metal Nanoparticles
Microscopy, Electron, Scanning Transmission
Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
Oxides
Polymers
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Silver
Spectrophotometry, Atomic
Staphylococcus aureus
Surface Properties
English The antimicrobial activity of silver has attracted significant research interest and contributes to an exponentially growing use of this noble metal in commodity products. In this investigation, we describe a general approach to increase the antimicrobial activity of a silver-containing surface by two to three orders of magnitude. The use of 1-2-nm silver particles decorating the surface of 20-50-nm carrier particles consisting of a phosphate-based, biodegradable ceramic allows the triggered release of silver in the presence of a growing microorganism. This effect is based on the organism's requirements for mineral uptake during growth creating a flux of calcium, phosphate, and other ions to the organism. The growing micro-organism dissolves the carrier containing these nutrients and thereby releases the silver nanoparticles. Further, we demonstrate the rapid self-sterilization of polymer surfaces containing silver on calcium phosphate nanoparticles using a series of human pathogens. Colony-forming units (viable bacteria or fungi counts) have been routinely reduced below detection limit and suggest application of these self-sterilizing surfaces in hospital environments, food and pharmaceutical processing, and personal care.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/123655
Statistics
Document views: 30 File downloads: