Characterization of silver nanoparticles synthesized on titanium dioxide fine particles

Silver nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution were synthesized over the surface of two different commercial TiO2 particles using a simple aqueous reduction method. The reducing agent used was NaBH4; different molar ratios TiO2:Ag were also used. The nanocomposites thus prepared were characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), x-ray diffraction (XRD), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and UV–visible (UV–vis) absorption spectroscopy; the antibacterial activity was assessed using the standard microdilution method, determining the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) according to the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards. From the microscopy studies (TEM and STEM) we observed that the silver nanoparticles are homogeneously distributed over the surface of TiO2 particles and that the TiO2:Ag molar ratio plays an important role. We used three different TiO2Ag molar ratios and the size of the silver nanoparticles is 10, 20 and 80 nm, respectively. It was found that the antibacterial activity of the nanocomposites increases considerably comparing with separated silver nanoparticles and TiO2 particles.