The behavior of nanoparticles is usually influenced by their size, shape and surface chemistry. Identifying the influence of these attributes on their behavior is important not only to the fundamental understanding the physics and chemistry of materials on the nanoscale, but also to the design of nanomaterials with optimal performance in their applications.<br/><br/>Nanosilver is one of the most extensively used nanomaterials due to their excellent antimicrobial activity. Silver nanoparticles undergo oxidative dissolution in water. The dissolution profile of silver nanoparticles influences both their performance in many applications and the impact to ecosystem after released to the environment. The influence of the size, shape and surface chemistry of silver nanoparticles on their dissolution chemistry has not been well understood so far. The lag in effort on this important issue is partially due to the difficulty in varying one particle attribute while keeping other attributes unchanged in the synthesis of silver nanoparticles.<br/><br/>We developed several synthesis methods to produce a large library of monodisperse silver nanoparticles with independently tunable size, shape and surface chemistry. The high monodispersity of the samples and independent tunability of each attribute enabled us to unambiguously identify the influence of these particle attributes on their dissolution profile and antibacterial efficiency. It was found that silver nanoparticles dissolve very fast in the beginning and then slow down with time. The dissolution stops after a period of time when equilibrium is reached. The size, shape, functional group and molecular weight of the protective agent of silver nanoparticles all have dramatic influence on their dissolution rate, solubility and antibacterial efficiency. The antibacterial efficiency of silver nanoparticles is closely related to the concentration of silver ions released from the dissolution of silver nanoparticles.

Dissolution and antibacterial efficiency of silver nanoparticles: Influence of particle size, shape, and surface chemistry

249th National Meeting (2015)

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