Characterisation of the Chemical Composition and Structural Features of Novel Antimicrobial Nanoparticles

Yuen-Ki Cheong; Jesus Calvo-Castro; Lena Ciric; Mohan Edirisinghe; Elaine Cloutman-Green; Upulitha Eranka Illangakoon; Qiang Kang; Suntharavathanan Mahalingam; Rupy Kaur Matharu; Rory M Wilson; Guogang Ren

doi:10.3390/nano7070152

Characterisation of the Chemical Composition and Structural Features of Novel Antimicrobial Nanoparticles

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2017 Jun 23;7(7):152. doi: 10.3390/nano7070152.

Affiliations

¹ School of Engineering and Technology, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield AL10 9AB, UK. y.cheong2@herts.ac.uk.
² School of Life and Medical Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield AL10 9AB, UK. j.calvo-castro@herts.ac.uk.
³ Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering, University College London, London WC1E 7JE, UK. l.ciric@ucl.ac.uk.
⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University College London, London WC1E 7JE, UK. m.edirisinghe@ucl.ac.uk.
⁵ Department of Microbiology, Virology, and Infection Prevention Control, Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London WCIN 3JH, UK. elaine.cloutman-green@gosh.nhs.uk.
⁶ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University College London, London WC1E 7JE, UK. upulitha.illangakoon.12@ucl.ac.uk.
⁷ Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Science, 72 Wenhua Road, Shenyang 110016, China. qkang@imr.ac.cn.
⁸ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University College London, London WC1E 7JE, UK. suntharavathanan.mahalingam@ucl.ac.uk.
⁹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University College London, London WC1E 7JE, UK. rupy.matharu.15@ucl.ac.uk.
¹⁰ Materials Research Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK. r.m.wilson@qmul.ac.uk.
¹¹ School of Engineering and Technology, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield AL10 9AB, UK. g.g.ren@herts.ac.uk.

Abstract

Three antimicrobial nanoparticle types (AMNP0, AMNP1, and AMNP2) produced using the Tesima^TM thermal plasma technology were investigated and their compositions were determined using a combination of analytical methods. Scanning electron micrographs provided the morphology of these particles with observed sizes ranging from 10 to 50 nm, whilst FTIR spectra confirmed the absence of polar bonds and organic impurities, and strong Raman active vibrational bands at ca. 1604 and 1311 cm^-1 ascribed to C-C vibrational motions were observed. Carbon signals that resonated at δ_C 126 ppm in the solid state NMR spectra confirmed that sp² hybridised carbons were present in high concentration in two of the nanoparticle types (AMNP1 and AMNP2). X-ray powder diffraction suggested that AMNP0 contains single phase Tungsten carbide (WC) in a high state of purity and multiple phases of WC/WC_1-x were identified in both AMNP1 and AMNP2. Finally, X-ray photoelectron spectral (XPS) analyses revealed and quantified the elemental ratios in these composite formulations.

Keywords: Raman; SS-NMR; XPS; XRD; antibacterial; antimicrobial; antiviral; carbide; nanoparticles; tungsten.