Authors : Mansor Bin Ahmad, Kamyar Shameli, Majid Darroudi, Wan Md Zin Wan Yunus, Nor Azowa Ibrahim, Azizah Abdul Hamid and Mohsen Zargar
Abstract: A simple synthesis of silver/montmorillonite/chitosan (Ag/MMT/Cts) Bionanocomposites (BNCs) with controllable sizes is presented. In this research, reduction process of silver cations by UV-irradiation was performed. AgNO3, MMT and chitosan were used as a silver precursor, solid support and stabilizer, respectively. The properties of Ag/MMT/Cts BNCs were studied as a function of UV-irradiation time. We found that UV-irradiation disintegrated the silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) into smaller size until a relatively stable size and size distribution were achieved. The average size, size distribution and crystalline structure of Ag-NPs were determined by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Powder X-Ray Diffraction (PXRD). The antibacterial activity of Ag-NPs was investigated against Gram-negative bacterium (Escherichia coli (E. coli)) and Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA)) by disk diffusion method using Muller-Hinton Agar (MHA) at different sizes of Ag-NPs. All of synthesized Ag/MMT/Cts BNCs were found to have high antibacterial activity. These results showed that Ag/MMT/Cts BNCs can be useful in different biological research and biomedical applications such as surgical devices and drug delivery vehicles.
Mansor Bin Ahmad, Kamyar Shameli, Majid Darroudi, Wan Md Zin Wan Yunus, Nor Azowa Ibrahim, Azizah Abdul Hamid and Mohsen Zargar, 2009. Antibacterial Activity of Silver/Clay/Chitosan Bionanocomposites. Research Journal of Biological Sciences, 4: 1156-1161.