Antimicrobial activity of silver nanoparticle impregnated bacterial cellulose membrane: Effect of fermentation carbon sources of bacterial cellulose

Bacterial cellulose (BC), a natural nanoporous matrix, was utilized as the template to in situ synthesize silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) by chemical reduction. Effects of the microstructure of the BC template, produced by different fermentation carbon sources were investigated on the formation of AgNPs. A detailed characterization, e.g. SEM, XRD and nitrogen physisorption for pure BC, and EDX, UV–vis spectroscopy, TEM and inductively coupled plasma for the AgNPs impregnated BC composites (BC/AgNPs) were done, and the antimicrobial activity of every composite was evaluated by both zone of inhibition and log reduction methods. It was revealed that the particle size of AgNPs, and the silver content and antimicrobial activity of the BC/AgNPs composites varied depending on the different BC templates used, mainly due to the differences in the microstructure of the BC template, especially the crystallinity and porous properties. As far as we know, little studies have been done on this issue.