TY - JOUR T1 - Synthesis and Antibacterial Activity of Silver/Montmorillonite Nanocomposites AU - Ahmad, Mansor Bin AU - Shameli, Kamyar AU - Darroudi, Majid AU - Wan Yunus, Wan Md Zin AU - Ibrahim, Nor Azowa AU - Abdul Hamid, Azizah AU - Zargar, Mohsen JO - Research Journal of Biological Sciences VL - 4 IS - 9 SP - 1032 EP - 1036 PY - 2009 DA - 2001/08/19 SN - 1815-8846 DO - rjbsci.2009.1032.1036 UR - https://makhillpublications.co/view-article.php?doi=rjbsci.2009.1032.1036 KW - Silver nanoparticles KW -montmorillonite KW -nanocomposite KW -antibacterial activity KW -powder x-ray diffraction KW -muller-hinton agar AB - Silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) were successfully synthesized into the interlayer space of Montmorillonite (MMT) by chemical reduction method. AgNO3 and NaBH4 were used as a silver precursor and reducing agent, respectively. The properties of Ag/MMT nanocomposites were studied as a function of the AgNO3 concentration. The UV-vis spectra of synthesized Ag-NPs showed that the intensity of the maximum wavelength of the plasmon peaks increased with increasing AgNO3 concentration. The crystalline structure of the Ag-NPs and basal spacing of MMT and Ag/MMT were also studied by Powder X-Ray Diffraction (PXRD). The antibacterial activity of Ag-NPs was investigated against gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and K. pneumonia) and gram-positive bacterium (Staphylococcus aureus) by disk diffusion method using Muller-Hinton Agar (MHA) at different sizes of Ag-NPs. The smaller Ag-NPs were found to have significantly higher antibacterial activity. These results showed that Ag-NPs can be used as effective growth inhibitors in different biological systems, making them applicable to medical applications such as in surgical devices. ER -