Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 315 (2007) 389–395

www.elsevier.com/locate/jcis

A versatile strategy to fabricate hydrogel–silver nanocomposites and

investigation of their antimicrobial activity
V. Thomas a , Murali Mohan Yallapu b,1 , B. Sreedhar c , S.K. Bajpai a,∗
a Department of Chemistry, Polymer Research Laboratory, Govt. Model Science College, Jabalpur, MP 482001, India
b Department of Polymer Science & Technology, Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapur, AP 515003, India
c Inorganic and Physical Chemistry, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Tarnaka, Hyderabad, AP 500007, India

Received 16 April 2007; accepted 25 June 2007

Available online 17 August 2007

Abstract
In this study, hydrogel–silver nanocomposites have been synthesized by a unique methodology, which involves formation of silver nanoparti-
cles within swollen poly (acrylamide-co-acrylic acid) hydrogels. The formation of silver nanoparticles was confirmed by transmission electron
microscopy (TEM) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) which was obtained at 406 nm. The TEM of hydrogel–silver nanocomposites showed al-
most uniform distribution of nanoparticles throughout the gel networks. Most of the particles, as revealed from the particle-size distribution curve,
were 24–30 nm in size. The X-ray diffraction pattern also confirmed the face centered cubic (fcc) structure of silver nanoparticles. The nanocom-
posites demonstrated excellent antibacterial effects on Escherichia coli (E. coli). The antibacterial activity depended on size of the nanocomposites,
amount of silver nanoparticles, and amount of monomer acid present within the hydrogel–silver nanocomposites. It was also found that immersion
of plain hydrogel in 20 mg/30 ml AgNO3 solution yielded nanocomparticle–hydrogel composites with optimum bactericidal activity.
© 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Hydrogel; Silver nanoparticles; Surface plasmon resonance; Nanocomposites; E. coli; Transmission electron microscopy; Silver nitrate;
Antibacterial activity; Scanning electron microscopy; Colony-forming unit

1. Introduction both to microbial DNA, preventing bacterial replication, and to

The design and development of nanoparticles and nanostruc-
tural materials have opened a new era for constructing well-
designed nanostructures that have been considered as a novel
class of materials for catalytic, optical, electronic, and bio-
medical applications [1]. It is widely renowned that nano-sized
metal particles such as silver, gold, and copper are highly toxic
to microorganisms [2–6], exhibiting strong biocidal effects on
as many as 16 species of bacteria including Escherichia coli [7].
Nanoparticles have an extremely large relative surface area,
thus increasing their contact with bacteria or fungi, and vastly
improving their bactericidal and fungicidal effectiveness. Silver
nanoparticles show excellent antimicrobial activity by binding
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: mnlbpi@rediffmail.com (S.K. Bajpai).
1 Current address: Department of Biomedical Engineering ND4-20, Lerner
Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA.
0021-9797/$ – see front matter © 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2007.06.068
the sulfhydryl groups of the metabolic enzymes of the bacterial
electron transport chain causing their inactivation [8,9]. Hence,
nanosilver particles have been applied to a wide range of health-
care products such as burn dressings, scaffold, skin donor and
recipient sites, water purification systems, and medical devices
[10–14]. Most recently, it has been demonstrated that silver
nanoparticles undergo a size-dependent interaction with HIV-I
virus via preferential binding to the gp120 glycoprotein knobs,
thus inhibiting the virus from binding to the host cells [15].
Multipurpose systems are required to exhibit superior an-
tibacterial activity toward germs on contact without releas-
ing any toxic biocides. Ongoing research efforts, on three-
dimensional network hydrogels, suggest that huge free space
available between the cross-linked networks in the swollen
stage behaves as nanoreactors for generating the nanoparti-
cles [16]. These hydrogel nanoreactors offer a platform for
nucleation and growth of nanocrystals, which eventually lead
to nanoparticle formation. Further, gel–nanoparticle systems
390 V. Thomas et al. / Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 315 (2007) 389–395
have opened a new skylight for different applications in bio-
medical engineering and these approaches are most effective
and safe because they are compatible with most of biolog-
ical molecules, cells, tissues, etc. Current studies have ex-
ploited in situ synthesis of metal nanoparticles within the
swollen hydrogel networks [17] and the resulting products are
leading to new hybrid or composite systems that have ver-
satile applications in bioengineering and biomedical fields.
The most advanced feature of this novel approach is that
we can alter the size and morphology of the nanoparticles
by changing the monomer and crosslinker concentrations in
the gel formulations. Well-defined gold nanoparticles embed-
ded inside thermosensitive hydrogel matrices were reported
by Wang et al. [18,19]. In their work, the templates of gel
networks were prepared using a combination of two crosslink-
ers, namely N,N -methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) and N ,N -
cystaminebisacrylamide (CBA). CBA is highly responsible in
controlling the morphology of the nanoparticles by control-
ling the crosslinking density of the networks. In another study,
Zhang et al. [20] produced polymeric microgels which can act
as versatile nanoreactors for semiconductor, metal, and mag-
netic nanoparticles. Recently, microgel formulations based on
N -isopropylacrylamide with nanoparticles have been effec-
tively employed for photonic, electronic, and electroanalytical
application purposes [21–23]. Hydrogels have also been em-
ployed for magnetic nanoparticle entrapment and the result-
ing ferronanohydrogel composite properties have been stud-
ied [24]. Gels constructed with methyl methacrylate (MMA)
and ethylenedimethacrylate (EDMA) have been utilized as tem-
plates to control the size and morphology of Pd nanoparticles.
The developed microgel–metal nanoclusters are appropriate
for catalysis applications [25]. More recently, silver nanopar-
ticles of ∼35 nm are embedded in a novel hydrogel system
based on poly(vinyl alcohol)/poly(styrene)-co-poly(ethylene
glycol methacrylate) [PVA/PS-PEGMA] [26]. A recent study
demonstrates that hydrogels are capable of producing nanosil-
ver particles about ∼4 nm in size [27]. In these studies, dif-
ferent strategies have been followed to prepare hydrogel–silver
nanocomposites. These include (1) polymerization of monomer
in the presence of initiator-funtionalized metal nanoparticles;
(2) shrinking of a swollen gel in acetone followed by its
reswelling in solution of metal nanoparticles and then again its
shrinking in acetone, thus finally resulting in the formation of
nanoparticle-loaded gels; (3) surfactant-free emulsion polymer-
ization (SFEP) to encapsulate metal nanoparticles within larger
spherical hydrogel particles; and (4) mixing a colloidal solution
of metal nanoparticles with aqueous polymer solution, followed
by solvent evaporation. However, the method used in our study
is very simple and economic and does not involve the use of
organic solvents. The use of organic solvents and other toxic
reagents, harsh synthesis conditions, limit their use in preparing
hydrogel/silver nanocomposites for biomedical applications.
Contrary to this, we hereby report a universal approach for
synthesizing nanocomposites. In the present work, we have
reported a novel approach for synthesizing Ag nanoparticles
containing poly(acrylamide-co-acrylic acid) hydrogels and in-
vestigated their antimicrobial activity against E. coli.
The antibacterial property of silver has been studied by a
number of microbiologists. For example, Deitch et al. [28] eval-
uated the antibacterial activity of silver nylon fabrics on the
growth of S. aureus and C. albicans to develop these fabrics
as wound dressings. In another study, Sondi and Salopek-Sondi
[7] evaluated the antimicrobial activity of silver nanoparticles
against E. coli. The results confirmed that the treated E. coli
cells were damaged, showing pit formation on bacterial cell
walls. Recently, Jain and co-workers [10] tested the bacter-
ial action of silver nanoparticle-coated polyurethane foam and
suggested its use as an antibacterial water filter. In another
work, Hu et al. [29] treated cotton fabrics with a suspension
of silver oxide in chitosan and studied its antibacterial action
against S. aureus. Attempts have also been made to coat urinary
catheters with silver compounds to prevent infection [30]. Apart
from silver, polycationic groups like alkylammonium have also
been employed to provide antimicrobial surfaces [31].
The real significance of this work is that if the surface
of medical prostheses is grafted with polymeric chains, then
this proposed novel approach may be used to incorporate Ag
nanoparticles into the grafted polymer network, followed by
citrate reduction, to yield devices with Ag-impregnated antimi-
crobial surfaces.
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
The two monomers used in this study, namely acrylamide
(AAm) and acrylic acid (AAc), and the crosslinking agent
N ,N -methylenebisacrylamide were obtained from HiMedia
Laboratories, Mumbai, India. The salts silver nitrate (AgNO3 ),
trisodium citrate (SC), and potassium persulfate (KPS) were
obtained from E. Merck, Mumbai, India, and used as received.
Standard cultures of the organisms were provided by the De-
partment of Biotechnology. Nutrient broth and Nutrient and
m-Endo agars were obtained from HiMedia Chemicals, In-
dia. Double-distilled water was used throughout the investiga-
tions.
2.2. Synthesis of poly(acrylamide-co-acrylic acid) hydrogels
The hydrogel disks were prepared by carrying out free rad-
ical aqueous copolymerization of AAm and AAc using MBA
as the crosslinker and KPS as the initiator. In brief, in order to
prepare a sample (HG2), 14.08 mM AAm, 5.55 mM AAc and
0.32 mM crosslinker MBA were dissolved in water and the final
volume was made 5 ml. Then, 0.11 mM KPS was dissolved and
the whole reaction mixture was transferred in the test tube (in-
ternal diameter 1.5 cm) and kept in an electric oven (Tempstar,
India) at 60 ◦ C for a period of 2 h. After the polymerization was
over, the test tube was broken and the resulting almost trans-
parent hydrogels were cut into slices of same thickness. The
hydrogels were equilibrated in the distilled water for a period
of 2 days to remove the unreacted monomers, crosslinker, and
initiator and finally dried in a dust-free vacuum chamber till the
gels attained constant weight. A blank poly (AAm) hydrogel,
 V. Thomas et al. / Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 315 (2007) 389–395 391

HG1, was also prepared by employing the same conditions and

composition, without AAc.

2.3. Synthesis of hydrogel–Ag nanoparticle composites

The hydrogel disk was equilibrated in the distilled water

for 24 h followed by its immersion in solution of silver ni-
trate (10 mg AgNO3 in 30 ml distilled water) for another 24 h.
Then the disk was taken out and put in trisodium citrate solu-
tion (20 mg dissolved in 30 ml water) for another 24 h to reduce
Ag+ ions into silver nanoparticles within the swollen gel. The
dark brown-cum-black color of the disk indicated formation of
silver nanoparticles. The disk was dried in an electric oven,
grinded, and finally sieved with mesh size No. 350 to yield fine
hydrogel–Ag nanoparticle composites.

2.4. Characterization

The Fourier transformation infrared (FTIR) spectra of plain

and silver nanoparticle-loaded hydrogel samples were recorded
on a FTIR spectrophotometer (Shimadzu 8400 S) using KBr.
Absorption measurements were carried out on a Systron-
ics 2201 UV–visible spectrophotometer for well-dispersed
hydrogel–silver nanocomposite solutions (1 mg/1 ml) in the
wavelength range 400–800 nm. XRD analyses for hydrogel–
silver nanocomposites were performed with a Rikagu diffrac-
tometer (Cu radiation, λ = 0.1546 nm) running at 40 kV and
40 mA. The nanocomposite structural and morphological vari-
ations were observed by using a JOEL JSM 840A (Japan)
scanning electron microscope (SEM). Scanning electron mi-
croscope specimens were prepared by placing 2–3 drops of the
hydrogel–silver nanocomposite solution on a silicon wafer and Fig. 1. Formation of silver nanoparticles within the swollen co-polymeric net-
work.
dried in air. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images
of the samples were recorded using a Tecnai F 12 TEM instru-
polymers and dendrimers, microgels, hydrogels, and so on. Re-
ment. TEM samples were prepared by dispersing 2–3 drops of
cently, as noted in the Introduction, there is a lot of interest
gel–silver nanoparticle solution on a copper grid and dried at
in producing nanoparticles in the hydrogel networks since they
room temperature after removal of excess solution using a filter
have enormous valuable applications in bio-related fields. But,
paper.
most of the hydrogels and microgels employed for this pur-
pose must follow either controlled polymerization paths or have
2.5. Microbial experimentation
well-organized networks through the gel structure, which may
increase the cost of the nanoparticle–hydrogel hybrid materi-
Microbial experimentation was done to find the effect of sil- als. In contrast, we have developed a facile in situ approach of
ver hydrogel particles on gram-negative bacteria E. coli. For nanoparticle synthesis using a conventional hydrogel. The em-
this purpose approximately 108 colony-forming units (CFU) of ployed hydrogel networks in this study are random copolymers
E. coli were cultured on a Nutrient agar plate supplemented of acrylamide and acrylic acid repeating units throughout the
with silver hydrogel particles. Plates, free of silver hydrogel gel macromolecular chains that are constructed with various
particles, were used as a control set. The plates were incubated crosslinking junctions. This macromolecular gel network will
for 24 h at 37 ◦ C and the numbers of colonies were counted. serve effectively as nanoreactors for silver nanoparticle prepa-
ration.
3. Results and discussion Fig. 1 depicts a clear scheme for the formation of silver
nanoparticles within the swollen co-polymeric network. When
3.1. Fabrication of hydrogel–Ag nanoparticles a fully swollen hydrogel disk is put in the aqueous AgNO3 solu-
tion, there occurs an ion exchange between Ag+ ions present in
During the past two decades, a number of different ap- the outer solution and H+ ions present within the gel phase. Af-
proaches have been employed to obtain better stabilization of ter equilibrium is attained, the hydrogel disk is transferred into
nanoparticles using various polymers, block copolymers, star trisodium citrate solution. This results in a reduction of Ag+
392 V. Thomas et al. / Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 315 (2007) 389–395

Fig. 2. Photographs of (a) hydrogel, (b) hydrogel–silver nitrate salt composite, (c) and hydrogel–silver nanoparticle composite, respectively.

ions to silver nanoparticles within the swollen network. In this

way an almost uniformly distributed array of silver nanopar-
ticles is obtained within the polymer network. Fig. 2 clearly
describes the change in physical appearance of the hydrogel
disk during the process of formation of silver nanoparticles
within the network. The hydrogel turns slightly brown due to
the presence of Ag nanoparticles. The most advanced features
of this methodology are that the formed silver nanoparticles
provided excellent stability over a longer period of time (at least
6 months) inside the hydrogel networks through the carboxylate
groups of co-polymeric chains.

3.2. FTIR, UV–vis spectral, and XRD analysis

Using FTIR spectra the formation of Ag nanoparticles inside

the gels was evaluated (figures are not shown). The charac-
teristic features of the spectrum of Ag nanoparticle–hydrogel
composites are almost very similar to those of plain polymer.
Fig. 3. UV–vis spectra of hydrogel (black) and hydrogel–silver nanocomposite
For example, a broad peak corresponding to –COOH of acrylic (red).
acid as well as –NH stretching of acrylamide is observed in
the range 3400–3600 cm−1 ; a peak corresponding to the car-
co-sodium acrylate) hydrogels, which have also shown a well-
bonyl group of the amide moiety of the AAm unit is observed
defined surface plasmon resonance around 400 nm. Fig. 4
at 1691 cm−1 while a characteristic peak at 1726 cm−1 arises
demonstrates the XRD pattern of the silver nanoparticles in the
from the carbonyl group C=O of poly(acrylic acid) chains.
hydrogel networks. In the XRD of hydrogel–silver nanocom-
The N–H bending vibration band appeared at 1610 cm−1 for
posites, the peaks exhibited at 38.0◦ , 44.28◦ , 64.46◦ , and 77.40◦
the plain hydrogel sample but in the case of the Ag–hydrogel
are assigned to reflections through (111), (200), (220), and
nanocomposite it is shifted to 1629 cm−1 in the spectrum. The
(311) planes of the face centered cubic (fcc) of silver nanopar-
interaction between the nitrogen function of the polymer sup-
ticles, respectively. However, poly(acrylamide-co-acrylic acid)
port and the metal atoms generally results in a blue shift of
hydrogel did not show any such peaks. Therefore, it is very clear
the band corresponding to the nitrogen functions in the FTIR
that hydrogel nanocomposite consists of silver nanoparticles.
spectra [32]. Therefore, FTIR spectroscopy provides concrete
evidence about the mode of binding of Ag atoms with polymer
support in the matrix. 3.3. Electron microscopy analysis
Further, to confirm the formation of silver nanoparticles in
the hydrogel, we carried out UV–visible absorption studies. In Scanning electron microscopy images of plain poly(acryl-
Fig. 3, a strong characteristic absorption peak around 406 nm amide-co-acrylic acid) hydrogel and hydrogel–silver nanocom-
is noted for the silver nanoparticles in the gel nanocompos- posite are depicted in Fig. 5. In Fig. 5A, there can be observed
ite due to the surface plasmon resonance effect. However, the a clear and flat surface of the plain hydrogel. On the other hand,
plain poly(acrylamide-co-acrylic acid) hydrogel did not show silver nanoparticles are clearly visible not only on the surface
any such peak. Recently, Mohan et al. [16] produced silver of the hydrogel–silver nanocomposites (Fig. 5B) but also inside
nanoparticles (∼3 nm) within the poly(N -isopropylacrylamide- the networks as is visible in the cross-sectional view in Fig. 5C.
 V. Thomas et al. / Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 315 (2007) 389–395
Fig. 4. X-ray diffraction pattern of (A) hydrogel and (B) hydrogel–silver nano-
composite.
Fig. 5. (A) SEM image of HG1 hydrogel, (B) silver nanoparticles on the surface
of HG1, and (C) silver nanoparticles in the hydrogel networks of HG1 (cross
section). Bar indicates 1 µm in all the SEM images.
The reason for the presence of silver nanoparticles inside the
gel networks may be attributed to the fact that when silver ions,
present on the surface of the swollen gel, are reduced by sodium
citrate, the silver nanoparticles, so produced, increase the gel
porosity, thus providing a pathway for reducing agents to enter
into the bulk to produce nanoparticles. We could not judge the
393
Fig. 6. (A) TEM image of HG2 (inset SAED pattern) and (B) silver nanoparti-
cles distribution in the HG2 hydrogel.
particle size from the SEM analysis because the study was done
on dry nanocomposite sample.
Fig. 6A shows the TEM image of the silver nanoparticles
prepared within the hydrogel with 4.16 mM monomer acid in
the feed mixture. The image indicates nearly uniform distri-
bution of silver nanoparticles. In addition, a typical selected
area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern of a collection of sil-
ver nanoparticles is also shown (see inset). The pattern appears
to be a little diffused due to smaller particle size, but three dif-
fraction rings are clearly visible and they can be indexed to the
face-centered cubic structure of silver as follows. The strongest
ring and the one closest to the center is probably a combina-
tion of the {111} and {200} reflections. The second ring is
likely the {222} reflection whereas the outermost and the weak-
est third ring are either the {420} and/or the {422} reflections.
Almost similar results have also been reported elsewhere [33].
The size distributions were obtained by measuring the diame-
ter of 35 particles in an arbitrarily chosen area of TEM image
(see Fig. 6B). As can be seen, nearly 40% of particles have an
average diameter of 26 nm and moreover, the distribution curve
appears to be more or less symmetrical with all the nanopar-
394 V. Thomas et al. / Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 315 (2007) 389–395
Fig. 7. Photographs showing bacterial colonies in petri plates containing nano-
composites with (A) 0.00 and (B) 5.55 mM acrylic acid.
ticles falling within the narrow range of 12–42 nm. One more
interesting feature is that the nanoparticles do not seem to form
aggregates. This may be due to excellent stabilization of silver
nanoparticles by carboxylate anions present in the gel macro-
molecular chains.
3.4. Antibacterial property of Ag–hydrogel nanocomposites
As noted in earlier sections, the formation of silver nanopar-
ticles within the swollen hydrogel is mainly due to an ion-
exchange process. So, it is expected that the sample, prepared
with a higher content of monomer acid in the feed mixture,
should contain more silver nanoparticles, and hence should
demonstrate greater antibacterial properties. In order to inves-
tigate this, we examined the antibactericidal property of two
samples, prepared with 0.00 and 5.55 mM acrylic acid in the
feed mixture, (i.e., samples HG1 and HG2, respectively) under
identical conditions. Fig. 7 clearly demonstrates that formation
of bacterial colonies in the presence of nanocomposite HG2 is
almost negligible whereas more population of bacterial colonies
appears in the presence of sample HG1. This may simply be
attributed to the fact that Ag nanoparticles are present in less
number in the sample HG1 and hence the sample HG1 is inca-
pable in retarding the growth of bacterial colonies to a great ex-
tent while the sample HG2, which contains a sufficient number
of silver nanoparticles, shows great potential for reducing the
bacterial growth under similar conditions. The results also sup-
port the proposed mechanism that ion exchange between Ag+
ions present in the external AgNO3 solutions and H+ ions pro-
duced due to ionization of –COOH groups within the swollen
phase is a key factor for the entrapment of Ag+ ions within the
polymer network. Here it is worth noting that the presence of
silver nanoparticles within the sample HG1 (i.e., without con-
taining monomer acid) shows that silver ions, to some extent,
must have entered into the swollen network and later on were
reduced by sodium citrate. However, the presence of –COO−
groups (due to acrylic acid as in sample HG2) becomes a ma-
jor driving force for Ag+ ions to enter into the swollen network
through Ag+ –H+ ion-exchange process. Hence, it may be con-
cluded that composition of monomer acid in the feed mixture is
Fig. 8. Photographs of growth of bacterial colonies is the petri dishes containing
(A) 200 and (B) 100 µm sized particles.
a key factor governing the bactericidal property of the resulting
nanocomposites.
3.5. Effect of particle size on biocidal action
It is expected that size of the Ag hydrogel particles should in-
fluence their antibacterial action because change in particle size
results in change in surface area which is in contact with the
bacterial species. To investigate this, hydrogel–silver nanocom-
posites of 100 and 200 µm sized particles were tested for their
antibacterial action against E. coli. The results, as depicted in
Fig. 8, clearly indicate that 100 µm sized particles show greater
tendency to inhibit growth of bacterial colonies as compared
to the particles with size 200 µm. There are nearly 200 CFUs
in the control set while this number reduces to 53 and 93 for
the petri dishes containing Ag–hydrogel particles with diameter
100 and 200 µm, respectively. Thus, it can be seen that 200 µm
sized hydrogel–Ag composite particles are able to reduce the
bacterial growth up to 50% while 100 µm sized particles re-
duce the colonies growth upto 75% as compared to the control
set. The results may simply be attributed to the fact that 100 µm
sized particles possess greater surface area and hence they are in
contact with a greater number of bacteria, thus inhibiting their
growth more effectively. Therefore it may be inferred that small
sized particles are preferable for obtaining greater inhibition of
bacterial colony growth.
3.6. Effect of silver content on bacterial action
The amount of silver nanoparticles within the hydrogel can
be varied by immersing plain hydrogel disks in silver nitrate
solutions of different concentrations followed by citrate reduc-
tion. This will of course affect the bactericidal action of Ag
hydrogel nanocomposites. To investigate this, plain hydrogel
samples HG2 were dipped in silver nitrate solutions, varying
in concentration from 10 to 30 mg/30 ml. A definite amount
of nanocomposites so obtained was tested for their antibacte-
rial action against E. coli. The results as depicted in Fig. 9
clearly indicate that as the concentration of AgNO3 solutions
increases the antibacterial activity of resulting nanocomposites
 V. Thomas et al. / Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 315 (2007) 389–395
Fig. 9. Photograph showing growth of bacterial colonies in (A) silver-free con-
trol plate; and in plates containing Ag–hydrogel particles, prepared by immer-
sion in AgNO3 solution of concentration (B) 10, (C) 20, and (D) 30 mg per
30 ml water.
also increases. It is clear that for the nanocomposites, prepared
by immersion in 20 and 30 mg/30 ml solutions of AgNO3 ,
the growth of bacterial colonies is almost nil, thus suggest-
ing a fair bactericidal activity of their nanocomposites. This
indicates that optimal concentration of AgNO3 solutions to ob-
tain fair antibacterial activity of Ag hydrogel nanocomposites
is 20 mg/30 ml. It is also evident that the hydrogel–silver
nanocomposites, prepared with 10 mg/30 ml AgNO3 solution,
are not so effective in inhibiting bacterial growth.
4. Summary
From the results of the above study it may be concluded
that silver nanoparticles can be produced within the swollen
polymer network. The developed silver–hydrogel nanocompos-
ite demonstrates fair antibacterial activity against E. coli. Their
bacterial action depends on size of the particles, amount of sil-
ver nanoparticles within the hydrogel, and amount of monomer
acid in the feed mixture. The formation of Ag nanoparticles
with in the gel takes place due to entrapment of Ag+ ions
into the swollen hydrogel network via Ag+ –H+ ion-exchange
mechanism, followed by citrate reduction. The X-ray diffrac-
tion analysis confirms the fcc structure of Ag nanoparticles.
In the next part of the study, we propose to graft monomer
onto the surface of urinary catheters and then incorporate sil-
ver nanoparticles to finally study the antibacterial action of the
catheter surface.
395
Acknowledgment
The authors thank Dr. O.P. Sharma, Head of the Department
of Chemistry, Govt. Model Science College (Jabalpur), India,
for providing facilities to work.
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