Shanghai Technical Institute of Electronics & Information, 3098 Wahong Road, Shanghai 201411, China.
NanoTeX Lab, Solmont Technology Wuxi Co., Ltd., 228 Linghu Blvd, Tian'an Tech Park, A1-602, Wuxi 214135, China.
Molecules. 2024 Jun 26;29(13):3027. doi: 10.3390/molecules29133027.
AgCu bimetallic· nanoparticles (NPs) represent a novel class of inorganic, broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents that offer enhanced antimicrobial effectiveness and reduced cytotoxicity compared to conventional Ag NP antibacterial materials. This study examines the antimicrobial performance and structural characteristics of AgCu nanoparticles (NPs) synthesized via two distinct chemical reduction processes using PVP-PVA as stabilizers. Despite identical chemical elements and sphere-like shapes in both synthesis methods, the resulting AgCu nanoparticles exhibited significant differences in size and antimicrobial properties. Notably, AgCu NPs with smaller average particle sizes demonstrated weaker antimicrobial activity, as assessed by the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) measurement, contrary to conventional expectations. However, larger average particle-sized AgCu NPs showed superior antimicrobial effectiveness. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed that nearly all larger particle-sized nanoparticles were AgCu nanoalloys. In contrast, the smaller particle-sized samples consisted of both AgCu alloys and monometallic Ag and Cu NPs. The fraction of Ag ions (relative to the total silver amount) in the larger AgCu NPs was found to be around 9%, compared to only 5% in that of the smaller AgCu NPs. This indicates that the AgCu alloy content significantly contributes to enhanced antibacterial efficacy, as a higher AgCu content results in the increased release of Ag ions. These findings suggest that the enhanced antimicrobial efficacy of AgCu NPs is primarily attributed to their chemical composition and phase structures, rather than the size of the nanoparticles.
AgCu 双金属纳米颗粒（NPs）代表了一类新型的无机、广谱抗菌剂，与传统的 Ag NP 抗菌材料相比，它们具有增强的抗菌效果和降低的细胞毒性。本研究考察了通过两种不同的化学还原工艺合成的 AgCu 纳米颗粒（NPs）的抗菌性能和结构特征，使用 PVP-PVA 作为稳定剂。尽管两种合成方法的化学元素相同且呈球状，但所得的 AgCu 纳米颗粒在尺寸和抗菌性能上存在显著差异。值得注意的是，平均粒径较小的 AgCu NPs 的抗菌活性较弱，这与传统预期相反，这可以通过最小抑菌浓度（MIC）测量来评估。然而，平均粒径较大的 AgCu NPs 表现出优越的抗菌效果。高分辨率透射电子显微镜分析表明，几乎所有较大粒径的纳米颗粒都是 AgCu 纳米合金。相比之下，较小粒径的样品则由 AgCu 合金和单金属 Ag 和 Cu NPs 组成。较大 AgCu NPs 中 Ag 离子（相对于总银量）的分数约为 9%，而较小 AgCu NPs 中仅为 5%。这表明 AgCu 合金含量对增强抗菌效果有重要贡献，因为较高的 AgCu 含量会导致更多 Ag 离子的释放。这些发现表明，AgCu NPs 的增强抗菌效果主要归因于其化学成分和相结构，而不是纳米颗粒的大小。
