Fabrication of AgNPs@Bowl-shaped structure with excellent antibacterial activity

• Published in: Colloid and interface science communications 2021-09, Vol.44, p.100473, Article 100473
• Main Authors: Guo, Wenling, He, Yulong, Wang, Fawei, Li, Yonggang, Wang, Bin, Wang, Rongmin, Song, Pengfei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ag nanoparticles; Antibacterial polymer; Assembly; Phase separation; Thin-wall particles
• ISSN: 2215-0382; 2215-0382
• DOI: 10.1016/j.colcom.2021.100473

Bacterial infection has been attracted significant attention as it became an austere menace to public health systems. In this work, a novel thin-wall bowl-shaped particles (BSPs) were prepared by the solvent-induced phase separation method. Firstly, the copolymerization of methacrylic acid (MAA) and methyl methacrylate (MMA) were employed to synthesize amphipathic poly(methacrylic acid-co-methyl methacrylate) (PMA) chains in a solvent of EtOH/H2O. Secondly, hydrophobic hard monomer and hydrophilic soft monomer were introduced into the amphiphilic PMA solution to polymerize and assemble within polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) aqueous solution, which afforded a thin-wall BSPs. Its micromorphology and composition were characterized by SEM, FT-IR, TGA and DLS. Furthermore, Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs) were loaded to the surface of thin-wall BSPs through in situ reduction of silver ion (Ag+). Notably, the obtained Ag@BSPs exhibited excellent antibacterial properties against E. coli and S. aureus, which has enormous application prospects in the prevention and treatment of bacterial infections. [Display omitted] •Thin-wall bowl-shaped particles (BSPs) were synthesized with one-pot two-step solvent-induced phase separation.•The morphology of BSPs could be controlled by the mixed solvent comprised of ethanol and water.•The AgNPs loaded BSPs (Ag@BSPs) exhibited excellent antibacterial activity.•Ag@BSPs has enormous application prospects in the prevention and treatment of bacterial infections.