Immobilization of Silver Nanoparticles on Chitosan-Coated Silica-Gel-Beads and the Antibacterial Activity

Silver nanoparticles (Ag0) have attracted the most attention due to their broad antimicrobial application and outstanding activity. The silver nanoparticles are usually in colloidal form, then immobilization the colloid onto solid support is still interesting to explore. In this work, a new method for silver colloidal nanoparticle immobilization on silica gel beads (SiG), which was then symbolized as Ag0-[chi-SiG] was conducted and characterized successfully. The finding proved that SiG must be coated with three chitosan film layers to give stable support for silver nanoparticles. This coating method caused the chitosan completely covered SiG, and the chitosan film provides coordination bonding for silver ions. The most appropriate solvent for silver ion impregnation on the surface of chi-SiG is methanol compared to other solvents. Tungsten lamp as the photo-irradiation, which is low cost and environmentally friendly has been proven effective for silver ion reduction, as shown by silver metal colloid UV-Vis surface plasmon resonance at 400-700 nm. Ag0-[chi-SiG] showed the antibacterial properties of inhibiting the growth Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli; then it provides the potential application for antibacterial filter material. According to the weight comparison between antibacterial standard and Ag content, then Ag0-[chi-SiG] has two and five times higher of exhibiting zone for each bacteria.