Open AccessSynthesis and Complete Antimicrobial Characterization of CEOBACTER, an Ag-Based Nanocomposite
Author(s) -
Oscar E. Jaime-Acuña,
Anaid Meza-Villezcas,
M. Vasquez-Peña,
O. Raymond Herrera,
Humberto Villavicencio-García,
Vitalii Petranovskii,
Rafael Vázquez-Duhalt,
Alejandro Huerta-Saquero
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0166205
Subject(s) - antimicrobial , human decontamination , disinfectant , nanocomposite , nanomaterials , chemistry , nanotechnology , silver nanoparticle , minimum bactericidal concentration , characterization (materials science) , aqueous solution , materials science , nanoparticle , minimum inhibitory concentration , nuclear chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , organic chemistry , medicine , pathology
The antimicrobial activity of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) is currently used as an alternative disinfectant with diverse applications, ranging from decontamination of aquatic environments to disinfection of medical devices and instrumentation. However, incorporation of AgNPs to the environment causes collateral damage that should be avoided. In this work, a novel Ag-based nanocomposite (CEOBACTER) was successfully synthetized. It showed excellent antimicrobial properties without the spread of AgNPs into the environment. The complete CEOBACTER antimicrobial characterization protocol is presented herein. It is straightforward and reproducible and could be considered for the systematic characterization of antimicrobial nanomaterials. CEOBACTER showed minimal bactericidal concentration of 3 μg/ml, bactericidal action time of 2 hours and re-use capacity of at least five times against E . coli cultures. The bactericidal mechanism is the release of Ag ions. CEOBACTER displays potent bactericidal properties, long lifetime, high stability and re-use capacity, and it does not dissolve in the solution. These characteristics point to its potential use as a bactericidal agent for decontamination of aqueous environments.