Novel approach to the formation of silver-containing nanocomposites by thermochemical reduction of Ag+ ions in interpolyelectrolyte-metal complexes

The structure and properties of silver-containing nanocomposites formed by the method of thermochemical reduction of Ag + ions in polyelectrolyte-metal complexes pectin–Ag + –polyethyleneimine were studied using X-ray diffraction analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, pyrolysis mass spectrometry, transmission electron microscopy and antimicrobial test. The optimal parameters for the formation of nanocomposites based on interpolyelectrolyte complexes of pectin–polyethyleneimine and Ag nanoparticles (reduction temperature T = 150 °C, reduction time t = 30 min) have been found by X-ray diffraction analysis, in which the structural manifestation of the silver metal phase is fully realized. Using transmission electron microscopy, it was found that nanocomposite formed by thermochemical reduction of Ag + ions at 150 °C for 30 min has an average nanoparticle size of 4.1 nm that less than for nanocomposite obtained at T = 120 °C during the same reduction time (average nanoparticle size is 5.8 nm). Ag nanoparticles obtained by using a typical reducing agent (NaBH 4 ) have an average size equals 3.8 nm. It was revealed that nanocomposites obtained by thermochemical method have significantly higher antimicrobial activity compared with nanocomposites obtained by chemical reduction of Ag + ions using NaBH 4 . A mechanism of thermochemical reduction of silver ions in IMC pectin–Ag + –polyethyleneimine, which is based on the transfer of electrons from the nitrogen atoms of amino groups PEI to Ag + ions, has been investigated by destructive processes that occur at the same time.