Development of Nanocomposite Antimicrobial Polymeric Materials Containing Silver Nanoparticles

Abstract

The presence of antibacterial materials in biomedicine and related fields of science and technology has become essential. Excellent antibacterial activity and low cytotoxic potential of silver nanoparticles generally depend not only on their size, but also on the distribution in matrix media. Here we show the novel aproach for synthesis of stabilized silver nanoparticles and study of functional properties of antimicrobial polymeric nanocomposite materials based on polyethylene oxide. Using the novel aproach for synthesis we recieve silver nanoparticles with average size around 8–10 nm. We found that stabilized silver nanoparticles has a significant effect on thermophysical and dielectric properties of polymer matrix at relatively low concentrations of the nanofiller (1–2 %). Nanocomposite with 1 % of silver nanoparticles shows significant activity for Klebsiella (zone of inhibition is 19 mm) and material with 2 % of silver nanoparticles shows significant activity for Staphylococcus aureus (zone of inhibition is 22 mm).