A novel mechanism for the synthesis of ultra-purified silver nanoparticles for the use in biomedical materials

摘要

Biomedical products are regulated by high standards of purity and quality compared to those that are not going to be linked to the human body. These requirements are crucial in order to guarantee biocompatibility. For this reason, the price of the final product is going to increase significantly [1]. So it is a real challenge to incorporate a nanotechnological product to be used in the biomedical industry without affecting its cost. Previous research has shown the antibacterial properties of nanoproducts such as silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) against infectious agents like bacteria and fungi. However, as mentioned before purity in those products has to reach higher levels than for other applications. Available reagents for the synthesis of AgNPs contain metal impurities such as iron that cannot only reduce the antimicrobial properties but even promote the growth of microbiological agents according to the level of purity of the reagent. In this study, we describe a novel and more affordable mechanism for the synthesis and bio-purification of AgNPs that contain metal impurities. The nanoparticles were synthetized by the use of silver nitrate with different levels of purity. After tests with some species of fungi and bacteria we have found Pseudomonas aeruginosa as the proper specie to the bio-purification and thus obtaining a higher purity of AgNPs . With this novel mechanism, not only we were able to use a reagent with a higher quantity of impurities and reduce the synthesis cost, but also were able to achieve a higher purity in the synthetized nanoparticles. By synthetizing AgNPs this way, we not only obtained nanoparticles with a higher purity than the ones produced by using a higher purity reagent, but also reduced the cost around 50 percent. This method is important because AgNPs synthesized with these properties can be incorporated to polymers for products such as catheters, and alloys such as scalpels with better antimicrobial properties.