Bulk Surfaces Coated with Triangular Silver Nanoplates: Antibacterial Action Based on Silver Release and Photo-Thermal Effect

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 7; no. 1; p. 7
• Main Authors: D'Agostino, Agnese, Taglietti, Angelo, Desando, Roberto, Bini, Marcella, Patrini, Maddalena, Dacarro, Giacomo, Cucca, Lucia, Pallavicini, Piersandro, Grisoli, Pietro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01-01-2017; MDPI
• Subjects: Antibacterial properties; antibacterial surfaces; Antibiotics; Antiinfectives and antibacterials; Antimicrobial agents; Bacteria; Coating effects; Demand; Drug resistance; Fever; Glass; Gold; Hyperthermia; Irradiation; Lasers; Nanomaterials; Nanoparticles; Nanostructure; photothermal effect; seed-growth synthesis; Silver; silver nanoplates; Thermal properties; Italy; hyperthermia; antibacterial surfaces; seed-growth synthesis; photothermal effect; silver nanoplates
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano7010007

A layer of silver nanoplates, specifically synthesized with the desired localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) features, was grafted on amino-functionalized bulk glass surfaces to impart a double antibacterial action: (i) the well-known, long-term antibacterial effect based on the release of Ag⁺; (ii) an "on demand" action which can be switched on by the use of photo-thermal properties of silver nano-objects. Irradiation of these samples with a laser having a wavelength falling into the so called "therapeutic window" of the near infrared region allows the reinforcement, in the timescale of minutes, of the classical antibacterial effect of silver nanoparticles. We demonstrate how using the two actions allows for almost complete elimination of the population of two bacterial strains of representative Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.