The Effect of Substrate Material on Silver Nanoparticle Antimicrobial Efficacy

Published

December 1, 2010

Author(s)

Benita Dair, Dave M. Saylor, T. E. Cargal, Grace R. French, Kristen M. Kennedy, Rachel S. Casas, Jonathan E. Guyer, James A. Warren, Steven K. Pollack

Abstract

With the advent of Nanotechnology, silver nanoparticles increasingly are being used in coatings, especially in medical device applications, to capitalize on their antimicrobial properties. The increased antimicrobial efficacy of nanoparticulate silver systems relative to their bulk counterparts may be attributed to an increased silver ion (Ag+) solubility, and hence availability, that arises due to large curvatures of the small nanometer-sized particles. However, a change of the material upon which the antimicrobial nanoparticulate silver is deposited (herein called "substrate") may affect the availability of Ag+ ions and the intended efficacy of the device. We utilize both theory and experiment to determine the effect of substrate on ion release from silver particles in electrochemical environments and find that substrate surface change, chemical reactivity or affinity of the surface for Ag+ ions, and hence antimicrobial efficacy. It is also observed that with time of exposure to DI water, Ag+ ion release increases to a maximum value at 5 minutes before decreasing to undetectable levels, which is attributed to coarsening of the nanoparticles, which subsequently reduces the solubility and availability of Ag+ ions. This coarsening phenomenon is also predicted by the theoretical considerations and has been confirmed experimentally by TEM.

Citation

Nano Letters

Volume

10

Issue

7

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1166/jnn.2010.3566

Local Download

Keywords

Nanoparticles, Antimicrobial, Silver Ion, Phase field, Electrochemistry, Surface charge

Citation

Dair, B. , Saylor, D. , Cargal, T. , French, G. , Kennedy, K. , Casas, R. , Guyer, J. , Warren, J. and Pollack, S. (2010), The Effect of Substrate Material on Silver Nanoparticle Antimicrobial Efficacy, Nano Letters, [online], https://doi.org/10.1166/jnn.2010.3566, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=903174 (Accessed October 9, 2025)