<br/>Engineered nanoparticles have the potential to play an important role in drug delivery, therapeutics, diagnostics, and antimicrobial development. In particular, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are promising agents for use as antimicrobials. It has long been known that silver ions (Ag+) are toxic to bacteria. AgNPs have huge surface area-to-volume ratios, increasing the ion release rate. However, the dissolution mechanisms of AgNPs seem to be affected by solution conditions.  Recent experiments have shown that the presence of a protein corona, a biomolecule coating on the surface of a nanomaterial, affects AgNP dissolution kinetics. Specifically, glutathione has been shown to enhance Ag+ dissolution at moderate concentrations, but reduce dissolution at low and high concentrations. The conductivity of computational models of 1 M aqueous silver nitrate was calculated using molecular dynamics simulations. These measurements were compared to experiments to verify the simulations. The validated simulations were then used to calculate the free energy for the dissolution of a silver ion from a silver nanoparticle surface. Future work will include the addition of complicating factors such as a citrate capping layer and glutathione molecules.

Analysis of silver nitrate conductivity to validate molecular dissolution models for silver nanoparticles

Where thousands of chemistry professionals meet to share ideas and advance scientific and technical knowledge. Spring 2023 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch at the end of March.

ACS Spring 2023

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.