Abstract
Polymer nanocomposites containing nanometals became a subject of interest due to their bactericidal properties. Different polysaccharides have been used as matrices for nanosilver and nanogold synthesis. In this study, we present a novel, environmentally friendly method for the preparation of sodium alginate/nanosilver/graphene oxide (GOX) and sodium alginate/nanogold/graphene oxide GOX nanocomposites and their characteristics. The formation of approximately 10–20 nm ball-shaped Ag and Au nanoparticles was confirmed by UV–vis spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra. The incorporation of GOX sheets within the ALG matrix improved the thermal stability of the nanocomposites film, which was measured using the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). We also estimated the molecular weights of polysaccharide chains of the matrix with the size exclusion chromatography coupled with multiangle laser light scattering and refractometric detectors (HPSEC-MALLS-RI). The composites were more prone to enzymatic hydrolysis. The strongest bacteriostatic activity was observed for the sample containing nanosilver.
Highlights
Polysaccharides are a cheap, sustainable and renewable group of commonly available organic compounds
The results of our study show that the synthesis of silver and gold nanoparticles can be successfully performed with environmentally friendly methods, using sodium alginate as a stabilizing template
Gold nanocrystals provided in sodium alginate matrices are uniform in size and shape and exhibited the lowest polydispersity
Summary
Polysaccharides are a cheap, sustainable and renewable group of commonly available organic compounds They are considered as attractive resources for obtaining several novel biodegradable materials, attractive for medicine, chemical and pharmaceutical industries or food technology. It finds various applications in industry, for example, in biodegradable plastic packaging materials [7], medicine and biotechnology [8] It is non-toxic, biodegradable, biocompatible and has a far lower cost than many other biopolymers. Matrices, providing the formation of nanoparticles uniform in size and satisfying, in this manner, requirements for their practical applications [13] Nanoparticles immobilized within such matrices exhibit all the demanded properties: functionality, barrier properties, transparency and other interesting features. We prepared foils containing nanogold/graphene (ALG/Au/GOX) and nanosilver/graphene (ALG/Ag/GOX) in a sodium alginate matrix and characterized their morphology, enzymatic susceptibility, physicochemical and microbiological properties
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