Facile route of synthesis of silver nanoparticles templated bacterial cellulose, characterization, and its antibacterial application

Abstract

Bacterial cellulose (BC) produced from coconut water, commonly known as nata de coco, is a biopolymer with enormous properties. Compared to plant cellulose, BC has better mechanical strength and a greater degree of polymerization. BC's high purity and high porosity make it a suitable candidate for the embedding and dispersion template for silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). This study investigated a facile and scalable method of making BC from coconut water and impregnated them with AgNO3 solution to produce AgNPs templated BC. The resulting materials were characterized by Fourier transform infra-Red (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The thermal stability was also investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The antibacterial activity of AgNPs templated BC was challenged in cultures of gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus and gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli and showed an inhibition zone of growth in agar media. This study proves that the resulting AgNPs templated BC sheets are potential materials for antibacterial and industrial application that are low cost and easy to produce.