Insights into the antimicrobial mechanism of Ag and I incorporated ZnO nanoparticle derivatives under visible light

Afshin Karami; Zonghan Xie; Jiabin Zhang; Mohammad Sharear Kabir; Paul Munroe; Stephen Kidd; Hu Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.msec.2019.110220

Insights into the antimicrobial mechanism of Ag and I incorporated ZnO nanoparticle derivatives under visible light

Mater Sci Eng C Mater Biol Appl. 2020 Feb:107:110220. doi: 10.1016/j.msec.2019.110220. Epub 2019 Oct 30.

Authors

Afshin Karami¹, Zonghan Xie², Jiabin Zhang³, Mohammad Sharear Kabir⁴, Paul Munroe⁵, Stephen Kidd⁶, Hu Zhang⁷

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemical Engineering, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia. Electronic address: afshin.karami@adelaide.edu.au.
² School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia; School of Engineering, Edith Cowan University, WA, 6027, Australia. Electronic address: zonghan.xie@adelaide.edu.au.
³ School of Chemical Engineering, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia. Electronic address: jiabin.zhang@adelaide.edu.au.
⁴ School of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia. Electronic address: z5021292@student.unsw.edu.au.
⁵ School of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia. Electronic address: p.munroe@unsw.edu.au.
⁶ Australian Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Ecology, Research Centre for Infectious Disease, School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia. Electronic address: stephen.kidd@adelaide.edu.au.
⁷ School of Chemical Engineering, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia; Amgen Bioprocessing Centre, Keck Graduate Institute, CA, 91711, USA. Electronic address: hu_zhang@kgi.edu.

PMID: 31761246
DOI: 10.1016/j.msec.2019.110220

Abstract

ZnO nanoparticles doped with I and Ag were prepared via a solvothermal method. Characterizations of the as-synthesised samples were carried out using X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectrometry, Photoluminescence, transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The nanoparticles exhibit light absorption for wide spectra from ultra-violet (UV) to visible light. The antimicrobial efficacy was evaluated against Escherichia coli (MG1655) and Staphylococcus aureus (USA300) as models of Gram-negative and Gram-positive microorganisms, respectively. The double-doped nanoparticles demonstrated their potent efficacy against both types of microorganisms and they may have great potential in combating infectious diseases. More importantly, the insights into the mechanisms underlying the antimicrobial effects were revealed: synergistic effect of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and Ag⁺ release. Specifically, the ROS generation was believed to be dominant in the I:Ag:ZnO sample under visible light, while both ROS generation and Ag⁺ release were found to play an important role in the bacteria-killing by Ag:I:ZnO in the visible light and dark conditions. The Ag⁺ release was found to be the dominant antimicrobial mechanism for the Ag:ZnO NP sample in our experiment.

Keywords: Antimicrobial mechanism; Iodine; Nanomaterial; Silver; Visible light; ZnO double-doping.

MeSH terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents / chemistry*
Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology
Escherichia coli / drug effects
Iodine / chemistry*
Light*
Microbial Sensitivity Tests
Nanoparticles / chemistry*
Nanoparticles / toxicity
Reactive Oxygen Species / metabolism
Silver / chemistry*
Staphylococcus aureus / drug effects
Zinc Oxide / chemistry*

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Reactive Oxygen Species
Silver
Iodine
Zinc Oxide