Biocompatibility and photo-induced antibacterial activity of lignin-stabilized noble metal nanoparticles.

One-pot thermal and photochemical syntheses of lignin-doped silver and gold nanoparticles were developed and their antimicrobial properties were studied against and . The nature of the lignin as well as the metal are directly involved in the antimicrobial activity observed in these nanocomposites. Whereas one of the nanocomposites is innocuous under dark conditions and shows photoinduced activity only against , the rest of the lignin-coated silver nanoparticles studied show antimicrobial activity under dark and light conditions for both bacteria strains. Additionally, only photoinduced activity is observed for lignin-coated gold nanoparticles. Importantly, the particles are non-cytotoxic towards human cells at the bactericidal concentrations. Preliminary assays show these silver nanoparticles as potential antimicrobial agents towards biofilm eradication.