Synthesis and anti-fungal effect of silver nanoparticles–chitosan composite particles

Abstract

Lung-Shuo Wang,1–4 Chih-Yu Wang,2 Chih-Hui Yang,5 Chen-Ling Hsieh,3,5 Szu-Yu Chen,3,5 Chi-Yen Shen,1 Jia-Jung Wang,2 Keng-Shiang Huang3 1Department of Electrical Engineering, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; 2Department of Biomedical Engineering, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; 3The School of Chinese Medicine for Post-Baccalaureate, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; 4Department of Chinese Medicine, E-Da Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; 5Department of Biological Science and Technology, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan Abstract: Silver nanoparticles have been used in various fields, and several synthesis processes have been developed. The stability and dispersion of the synthesized nanoparticles is vital. The present article describes a novel approach for one-step synthesis of silver nanoparticles–embedded chitosan particles. The proposed approach was applied to simultaneously obtain and stabilize silver nanoparticles in a chitosan polymer matrix in-situ. The diameter of the synthesized chitosan composite particles ranged from 1.7 mm to 2.5 mm, and the embedded silver nanoparticles were measured to be 15±3.3 nm. Further, the analyses of ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction were employed to characterize the prepared composites. The results show that the silver nanoparticles were distributed over the surface and interior of the chitosan spheres. The fabricated spheres had macroporous property, and could be used for many applications such as fungicidal agents in the future. Keywords: silver, nanoparticles, chitosan, anti-fungal