Azizah  Abdul Hamid, Nor Azowa  Ibrahim, Wan Md Zin Wan  Yunus, Majid  Darroudi, Kamyar  Shameli, Mansor  Bin Ahmad, Mohsen  Zargar, 
    Antibacterial Activity of Silver/Clay/Chitosan Bionanocomposites,
    Research Journal of Biological Sciences,
    Volume 4,Issue 11,
    2009,
    Pages 1156-1161,
    ISSN 1815-8846,
    rjbsci.2009.1156.1161,
    (https://makhillpublications.co/view-article.php?doi=rjbsci.2009.1156.1161)
    Abstract: A simple synthesis of silver/montmorillonite/chitosan (Ag/MMT/Cts) Bionanocomposites (BNCs) with controllable sizes is presented. In this research, reduction process of silver cations by UV-irradiation was performed. AgNO<SUB>3</SUB>, MMT and chitosan were used as a silver precursor, solid support and stabilizer, respectively. The properties of Ag/MMT/Cts BNCs were studied as a function of UV-irradiation time. We found that UV-irradiation disintegrated the silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) into smaller size until a relatively stable size and size distribution were achieved. The average size, size distribution and crystalline structure of Ag-NPs were determined by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Powder X-Ray Diffraction (PXRD). The antibacterial activity of Ag-NPs was investigated against Gram-negative bacterium (<I>Escherichia coli </I>(<I>E. coli</I>)) and Gram-positive bacteria (<I>Staphylococcus aureus </I>(<I>S. aureus</I>) and Methicillin-Resistant <I>Staphylococcus Aureus </I>(MRSA)) by disk diffusion method using Muller-Hinton Agar (MHA) at different sizes of Ag-NPs. All of synthesized Ag/MMT/Cts BNCs were found to have high antibacterial activity. These results showed that Ag/MMT/Cts BNCs can be useful in different biological research and biomedical applications such as surgical devices and drug delivery vehicles.
    Keywords: montmorillonite;bionanocomposites;silver nanoparticles;Antibacterial activity;chitosan;UV-irradiation