Effect of Bacterial Cellulose Plasma Treatment on the Biological Activity of Ag Nanoparticles Deposited Using Magnetron Deposition

Alexander Vasil'kov; Alexander Budnikov; Tatiana Gromovykh; Marina Pigaleva; Vera Sadykova; Natalia Arkharova; Alexander Naumkin

doi:10.3390/polym14183907

Effect of Bacterial Cellulose Plasma Treatment on the Biological Activity of Ag Nanoparticles Deposited Using Magnetron Deposition

Polymers (Basel). 2022 Sep 19;14(18):3907. doi: 10.3390/polym14183907.

Authors

Alexander Vasil'kov¹, Alexander Budnikov¹, Tatiana Gromovykh², Marina Pigaleva³, Vera Sadykova⁴, Natalia Arkharova⁵, Alexander Naumkin¹

Affiliations

¹ A. N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds, Russian Academy of Sciences, 28 Vavilov St., Moscow 119991, Russia.
² Department of Biotechnology, Moscow Polytechnic University, Bolshaya Semyonovskaya Str., 38, Moscow 107023, Russia.
³ Faculty of Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory 1-2, Moscow 119991, Russia.
⁴ G. F. Gause Institute of New Antibiotics, 11 Bol'shaya Pirogovskaya St., Moscow 119021, Russia.
⁵ FSRC "Crystallography and Photonics" RAS, 59 Leninsky Prospekt, Moscow 119333, Russia.

Abstract

New functional medical materials with antibacterial activity based on biocompatible bacterial cellulose (BC) and Ag nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were obtained. Bacterial cellulose films were prepared by stationary liquid-phase cultivation of the Gluconacetobacter hansenii strain GH-1/2008 in Hestrin-Schramm medium with glucose as a carbon source. To functionalize the surface and immobilize Ag NPs deposited by magnetron sputtering, BC films were treated with low-pressure oxygen-nitrogen plasma. The composition and structure of the nanomaterials were studied using transmission (TEM) and scanning (SEM) electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Using electron microscopy, it was shown that on the surface of the fibrils that make up the network of bacterial cellulose, Ag particles are stabilized in the form of aggregates 5-35 nm in size. The XPS C 1s spectra show that after the deposition of Ag NPs, the relative intensities of the C-OH and O-C-O bonds are significantly reduced. This may indicate the destruction of BC oxypyran rings and the oxidation of alcohol groups. In the Ag 3d_5/2 spectrum, two states at 368.4 and 369.7 eV with relative intensities of 0.86 and 0.14 are distinguished, which are assigned to Ag⁰ state and Ag acetate, respectively. Nanocomposites based on plasma-treated BC and Ag nanoparticles deposited by magnetron sputtering (BCP-Ag) exhibited antimicrobial activity against Aspergillus niger, S. aureus and Bacillus subtilis.

Keywords: X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; antimicrobial activity; bacterial cellulose; magnetron sputtering; plasma treatment; silver nanoparticles.

Grants and funding

The APC was funded by MDPI. This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (Contract/agreement No. 075-00697-22-00). SEM investigations were supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation using the equipment of Shared Research Center FSRC “Crystallography and Photonics” of RAS.