Antimicrobial active silver nanoparticles and silver/polystyrene core-shell nanoparticles prepared in room-temperature ionic liquid

Uniform silver nanoparticles and silver/polystyrene core-shell nanoparticles were successfully synthesized in a room temperature ionic liquid, 1-n-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([BMIM]·BF4). [BMIM]·BF4 plays a protective role to prevent the nanoparticles from aggregation during the preparation process. Transmission electron micrographs confirm that both silver nanoparticles and core-shell nanoparticles are regular spheres with the sizes in the range of 5–15 nm and 15–25 nm, respectively. The X-ray diffraction analysis reveals the face-centered cubic geometry of silver nanoparticles. The as-prepared nanoparticles were also characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. In addition, antimicrobial activities against E. coli and S. aureus were studied and the results show that both silver nanoparticles and core-shell nanoparticles possess excellent antimicrobial activities. The antimicrobial mechanism of the as-prepared nanoparticles was discussed.