Powder Technology 264 (2014) 418422

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Powder Technology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/powtec

Silver ions and silver nanoparticles in zeolite A composites for

antibacterial activity
Duangkamon Jiraroj a, Sukkaneste Tungasmita a,b, Duangamol N. Tungasmita a,c,
a
Nanoscience and Technology Program, Graduated School, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
b
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
c
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The modication of zeolite A (NaA) by impregnation with different concentrations of silver ions (Ag+) or silver
Received 26 July 2013 nanoparticles (AgNPs) for antibacterial activity was investigated. The Ag+NaA composites were prepared by ion
Received in revised form 16 May 2014 exchange against different concentrations of silver nitrate solution (25200 mg/L) while AgNPs were subsequently
Accepted 31 May 2014
prepared by reducing the impregnated Ag+ with sodium borohydride. The addition of Ag+ and AgNPs had no dis-
Available online 8 June 2014
cernible effect on the NaA structure. The AgNPs in the AgNPNaA composites exhibited a typical broad absorption
Keywords:
peak at 394 nm that was absent in the Ag+NaA composites. The Ag+NaA and AgNPNaA composites both
Silver ion showed a dose- and time-dependent antimicrobial activity against the Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and
Silver nanoparticle Gram-negative Escherichia coli bacteria, but were substantially more effective against E. coli than S. aureus. Moreover,
Zeolite A Ag+NaA composites had a substantially higher antibacterial efciency against E. coli than the AgNPNaA compos-
Antibacterial activity ites, whereas the highest concentration at 3 h, the AgNPNaA composites were weakly more effective than the Ag+
Nanocomposite NaA composites against S. aureus.
Impregnation 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Zeolite A (NaA), also known as Linde Type A (LTA), is microporous

Silver (Ag) is a metallic element that has been widely used due to its
various excellent properties. Silver ions (Ag+) and silver modied inor-
ganic materials are highly effective at inhibiting bacterial growth [13]
and may damage the DNA of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative
bacteria [4]. Montmorillonite clay modied with Ag+ by ion exchange
was reported to exhibit good antibacterial properties against Escherichia
coli growth [1,3]. The smaller sized uncharged silver nanoparticles
(AgNPs) have been widely used as a catalyst [5,6] biomarker [7], in bio-
medical [8], antimicrobial [912] and other applications [13,14]. The
mechanism of the antibacterial (bacteriostatic and bacteriocidal) activ-
ity of AgNPs has been investigated on representative Gram-positive and
Gram-negative strains of bacteria [15]. Furthermore, AgNPs can be in-
corporated into other materials, such as clay, ceramics or polymers, for
specic bioactive applications [912,1619]. AgNPporous ceramic
composites have been utilized to enhance the antibacterial activity
since the ceramic alone can only block the bacteria whereas the AgNPs
behave as an antibacterial agent on contact with the bacteria [9]. Like-
wise, silverclay nanostructures showed a greater antimicrobial efcacy
than untreated clay [16], while AgNPs supported on chabazite zeolite
showed an optimal antimicrobial activity with AgNPs at 1 wt.% [19].
Corresponding author at: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn
University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand. Tel.: +66 2 218 7622; fax: +66 2 254 1309.
E-mail address: duangamol.n@chula.ac.th (D.N. Tungasmita).
aluminosilicate material commonly used as a commercial adsorbent in
gas purication and ion exchange separation [20,21]. Therefore, it is po-
tentially possible that Ag+ or AgNPs could synergistically modulate the
antibacterial activity of NaA. Ag+ was loaded into NaA at different
amounts by ion exchange from silver nitrate (AgNO3) solution, and
then the Ag+ was reduced to form AgNPs by sodium borohydride. The
antibacterial activity of the obtained Ag+NaA and AgNPNaA compos-
ites was then evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli as
model Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, respectively, by the
total viable plate-counting method. These AgNaA composites can be
used as ller in food wrapping lm. This component does not affect
the other organisms due to low Ag concentration. In addition, NaA has
gas permeable and gas selective properties [22] that can help to increase
shelf life for food and fruit.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Preparation of Ag+NaA and AgNPNaA composites
For preparation of the Ag+NaA and AgNPNaA composites, AgNO3
(Merck) solutions at 25, 50, 100 and 200 mg/L were prepared for ion-
exchange. NaA powder with a Si/Al ratio of 1 (commercial grade, PQ
Chemical Thailand) was suspended in the respective AgNO3 solution
to 1% (w/v) and continually stirred at room temperature for 2 h. The
slurry was then ltered to harvest the solid Ag+NaA composite before

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2014.05.049
0032-5910/ 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 D. Jiraroj et al. / Powder Technology 264 (2014) 418422 419

Fig. 1. X-ray diffractograms of pure zeolite A (NaA), Ag+NaA and AgNPNaA composites formed from different concentrations of AgNO3.

drying at 60 C overnight. Ag +NaA composites are referred to 2.4. Statistical analysis

as Ag+ NaA25, Ag +NaA50, Ag+NaA100 and Ag+NaA200 for
those derived from the 25, 50, 100 and 200 mg/L AgNO3 solution, Data are expressed as the mean one standard deviation (SD). The
respectively. signicance of differences between means for the antibacterial activity
For the AgNPNaA composites, Ag+NaA composites were prepared was tested by the KruskalWallis and MannWhitney U tests with
by ion-exchange as above but then while still in suspension 100 L of Holm's multiple correction.
2 M sodium borohydride (NaBH4, Assay (hypochlorite) 98%, Merck)
was added dropwise under vigorous stirring to reduce the Ag+ ions to
3. Results and discussion
AgNPs in situ at room temperature for 24 h [23]. The composite was
then harvested by ltration and the excess non-impregnated AgNPs
The addition of Ag+ or AgNPs in NaA was evaluated by ion exchange
were removed by washing with deionized water before drying the
from four concentrations of AgNO3 solution (25, 50, 100 and 200 mg/L).
composite at 60 C overnight. The Ag+NaA composites are referred
The prepared AgNPNaA composite powders all appeared as a
to as AgNPNaA25, AgNPNaA50, AgNPNaA100 and AgNPNaA200
brownish-yellow color (data not shown) in accordance with the forma-
for those derived from the 25, 50, 100 and 200 mg/L AgNO3 solution,
tion of AgNPs [24,25]. In contrast, the Ag+NaA composites and NaA ap-
respectively.
peared as white powders (not shown). This is expected given that the
color properties and surface plasmon effect of AgNPs are known to de-
pend on their size and concentration [25], changing from yellow to
2.2. Characterization of the composites
deep red when the concentration of silver increased [26].

The structural characterization of NaA and its silver composites

was investigated by X-ray powder diffractometry (XRD) using a Rigaku 3.1. Characterization of the composites
D/MAX-220 Ultima + X-ray powder diffractometer in 2theta scan
mode. DR-UV spectrophotometry was used to conrm the characteristic All the Ag+NaA and AgNPNaA composite samples showed the
peak of AgNPs at 400 nm using a Shimadzu UV-2550 UVVisible spectro- characteristic XRD pattern that identical to the characteristic pattern
photometer. The microstructure of the composites was studied by using
scanning electron microscopy (Hitachi S-4800, 20 kV) and transmission
electron microscopy (JEOL JEM-2010 at 200 kV). All samples were pre-
pared and mounted on copper grid.

2.3. Antibacterial activity

The antibacterial activity of the NaA and the respective Ag+NaA and
AgNPNaA composites was studied in terms of the reduction in the num-
ber of viable S. aureus (ATCC 6538) and E. coli (ATCC 25922) cells, as rep-
resentative Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, respectively,
following exposure of a bacterial suspension (~1 107 colony-forming
units (CFU)/mL) to the compounds at 0.1 mg/mL for 1, 2 and 3 h at
37 C. Following exposure the number of viable bacteria was determined
by the total plate count method [19], using three replicate plates per cul-
ture dilution, and expressed relative to the number of viable bacteria
(CFU/mL) in the untreated control culture, which was set at 100% viable Fig. 2. DR-UV absorption spectra of pure zeolite A (NaA), Ag+NaA and AgNPNaA
(0% antibacterial activity). composites at the silver concentration of 200 mg/L.
420 D. Jiraroj et al. / Powder Technology 264 (2014) 418422
Fig. 3. Scanning electron micrographs (50,000) of (a) pure zeolite A (NaA), (b) Ag+NaA and (c) AgNPNaA composites.
of pure NaA [21,27,28] as illustrated in Fig. 1. Therefore, the incorpora-
tion of Ag+ or AgNP into the NaA at these ratios had no discernible sig-
nicant effect on the NaA structure. Generally, and in accordance with
these results, the microporous NaA crystals are found in the [100] and
[110] cubic formation [29].
Furthermore, the AgNPs in the AgNPNaA composites revealed the
typical broad absorption UV peak of spherical AgNPs at about 400 nm,
due to their surface plasmon resonance [15,25,3033], AgNPNaA200,
the representative maximum absorption peak was around 394 nm
(Fig. 2). This suggests that the sizes of the AgNPs in the composites
were between 4 and 32 nm in diameter [15,24,26]. As expected, this
peak was not present in the Ag+NaA composites or the pure NaA
sample.
Previous work using hyaluronan to reduce the Ag+ ions to AgNPs re-
vealed that increasing the hyaluronan to silver nitrate ratio, tempera-
ture and pH value could all increase the rate of Ag+ reduction and the
obtained AgNP size, with a maximum absorption peak at around 400
450 nm [34]. The estimated size of the AgNPs in the AgNPNaA compos-
ites in our case is around 410 nm which conrmed by transmission
electron micrographs. This is in agreement with a previous study that
reported AgNPs of 313 nm were deposited on montmorillonite clay
[35]. The absorption peak of the AgNPNaA composites prepared from
the higher AgNO3 concentrations shifted to lower wavelengths (not
shown), which is due to the formation of smaller AgNPs [26,34,36].
Indeed, a broad absorbance band tailing at longer wavelengths is consis-
tent with the increasing number of larger sized AgNPs [26]. In accor-
dance, the DR-UV peak intensity of the AgNPNaA composites has
the highest value for AgNPNaA200 followed by AgNPNaA100 N
AgNPNaA50 N AgNPNaA25 (not shown). Thus, the peak intensity
of all Ag+NaA samples shows a very low value compare to those
AgNPNaA. This reects the balance between the net AgNP amount
(total area under the peak), particle size (wavelength) and size dis-
tribution (tail).
Fig. 4. Transmission electron micrographs of (a) pure zeolite A (NaA), (b) Ag+NaA and (c) AgNPNaA composites at the silver concentration of 200 mg/L, insert as SAED pattern.
The morphology shown by scanning electron micrographs in Fig. 3,
indicated that incorporation of Ag+ ions and AgNPs into NaA structure
does not make any change in the size and shape of NaA, except for the
increase of the surface roughness in the case of Ag+ ion, as seen in
Fig. 3(b). For microstructure analysis, the transmission electron micro-
graphs in Fig. 4 showed the distribution of the Ag and AgNP in the struc-
ture of NaA as the dark contrast spots in the electron micrographs, as
seen in Fig. 4(b) and (c) respectively, along with their selected area elec-
tron diffraction (SAED) patterns. From the transmission micrograph in
Fig. 4(b), the Ag+ ions were impregnated onto the surface of the NaA
especially at the brim of the zeolite A. This may induce an increase of
the surface roughness for Ag+NaA samples, as seen in previous scan-
ning electron micrograph (Fig. 3(b)). From SAED, we cannot see the
change in the crystal structure of the NaA host due to the present of
Ag+ and AgNP in NaA. Moreover, some Ag particles could precipitate
into the zeolite pores that can be noticed in Fig. 4(b) and (c). Some
AgNP in composites could be agglomerated. As a result, the Ag clusters
were formed and might provide the wider range of particle size distri-
bution in the DR-UV spectrum of AgNPNaA composite.
3.2. Antibacterial activity
The antibacterial activity of the different Ag+NaA and AgNPNaA
composites, compared to NaA, was investigated against S. aureus and
E. coli as representative Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, re-
spectively. The pure NaA sample had no signicant antibacterial activi-
ty, while the different Ag+NaA and AgNPNaA composites revealed a
dose- and exposure time-dependent antibacterial activity against both
bacterial strains, but they were both signicantly more active against
E. coli than S. aureus (Fig. 5).
With respect to the apparent Ag+ or AgNP dose-dependence in the
respective NaA composites upon the antibacterial activity induced, a
clear dose-dependent affect was seen for both silver types upon both
 D. Jiraroj et al. / Powder Technology 264 (2014) 418422 421

(a) mortality for Ag+NaA50 to Ag+NaA200, and the AgNPNaA compos-

100 1h 2h 3h ites induced a silver dose-dependent mortality from ~10% to ~80%
90 (AgNPNaA25 to AgNPNaA200). Likewise, a similar trend was seen at
%Reduction of bacteria

80 longer (2 and 3 h) exposure times (subject to reaching the maximal

70 inhibition level), where for example after a 2 h exposure the Ag+NaA
60 composites only induced from ~8% to 62% mortality of S. aureus with in-
50 creasing Ag+ levels (Ag+NaA25 to Ag+NaA200) compared to N95%
40 mortality of E. coli. The highest obtained antibacterial activity was seen
30 after a 3 h exposure to the Ag+NaA200 composite for S. aureus (84%
20 mortality), whereas all of the composites except for Ag+NaA25 induced
over 80% mortality of E. coli after a 1 h contact time, and increasing silver
10
levels in both the Ag+NaA (Ag+NaA50 to Ag+NaA200) and AgNP
0
NaA (AgNPNaA 50 to AgNPNaA200) composites induced 100% E. coli
mortality after a 3 h contact time.
That the Ag+NaA and AgNPNaA composites were more effective
against E. coli than S. aureus agrees with the result of Ag doped on
(b) natural zeolite chabazite [19] and was likely to reect the difference
100 between the cell membrane structure of Gram-positive and Gram-
90 1h negative bacteria, although of course more diverse samples are required
%Reduction of bacteria

80 to be tested for support. Likewise, that the Ag+NaA composites were

70 2h more effective than the corresponding AgNPNaA ones agrees with
60 that reported before [4,19]. This may reect that the main mode of
50 3h silver-mediated antibacterial action is via Ag+ ions interacting and
40 damaging the bacterial cell wall and then internal components [30].
Therefore, the ionic silver (Ag+) is available to directly damage the bac-
30
teria whereas the AgNPs (Ag0) have to rst be oxidized to Ag+, which is
20
a slower process.
10
0
4. Conclusion

Composites of NaA impregnated the Ag+ and AgNPs at different con-

Fig. 5. Reduction (%) in the number of viable (a) Staphylococcus aureus and (b) Escherichia
coli after 13 h contact time with zeolite A (NaA), or Ag+NaA or AgNPNaA composites
formed from the indicated AgNO3 concentrations (25, 50, 100 or 200 mg/L). Data are
shown as the mean 1 SD, and are derived from three replicates.
E. coli and S. aureus, with an increasing observed antibacterial activity
with increasing silver content in the Ag+NaA or AgNPNaA compos-
ites. With respect to the exposure time-dependence, increasing the ex-
posure time from 1 h to 2 h or 3 h increased the observed antibacterial
activity, although this was less marked for E. coli at higher Ag+ or AgNP
concentrations in the NaA composites since it had already induced a
high mortality after a 1 h exposure.
The effect of the silver type (Ag+ or AgNP) in the NaA composite
upon the level of antibacterial activity was dependent to some extent
upon the bacterial strain as well as the Ag+ or AgNP level. For S. aureus,
the AgNPNaA composites were slightly more effective than the corre-
sponding (same silver concentration) Ag+NaA composites, except for
the highest Ag dose where the Ag+NaA200 composite was much
more effective than the corresponding AgNPNaA200 composite. In
contrast, for E. coli the Ag+NaA composites were far more effective at
killing the bacteria at all exposure time points than the corresponding
AgNPNaA composites except for the lowest dose where the AgNP
NaA25 composite was more effective than the Ag+NaA25 composite
at all three time points.
The bacterial strain dependence (potential Gram-positive versus
Gram-negative bacterial dependence) was marked, where after a 1 h ex-
posure no mortality of S. aureus was observed with all Ag+NaA compos-
ites, whereas a slight mortality, from 0% (AgNPNaA25) up to ~ 10%
(AgNPNaA200), was observed with the AgNPNaA composites. This ac-
tivity may be associated with the cell wall of bacteria type. Gram-positive
bacterial, S. aureus, has thicker cell wall than E. coli species. Therefore, the
permeability of Ag+ to bacterial cell was difcult. As a result, the bacteria
took longer time (more than 1 h) to cell death [15]. This contrasts mark-
edly to that seen for E. coli, where Ag+NaA composites induced ~8090%
centrations were prepared by ion exchange and wet chemical reduction
with sodium borohydride, respectively. All of Ag+NaA and AgNPNaA
composite samples showed a similar morphology to NaA except for the
presence of the silver particles on their surface and the concomitant
rougher surface appearance. The AgNPNaA composites exhibited a
characteristic AgNP absorption peak at around 400 nm that was not ob-
served in the Ag+NaA and pure NaA samples. This peak increased in
intensity (more AgNPs) between the AgNPNaA25 to AgNPNaA200
composites, as expected. The Ag+NaA200 composite exhibited the
highest antibacterial against both E. coli and S. aureus, with more than
80% and 95% reduction in viable bacterial numbers within 3 h exposure.
Moreover, the prepared composites can be used as ller in many anti-
bacterial matter applications.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the National Research University
Project of CHE and the Ratchadaphiseksomphot Endowment Fund
(AM1078I) and Center of Innovative Nanotechnology (CIN1.9/52),
Chulalongkorn University.
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