Wilfred V. Espulgar | Gil Nonato C. Santos | Reuben V. Quiroga
Discipline: Chemistry
Triangular silver nanoplates, of different orientations, and other nanostructures were successfully synthesized for antimicrobial purposes using the Horizontal Vapor Phase Crystal (HVPC) growth technique. The starting material for the synthesis was 35mg of 99.99% pure silver powder at varying growth temperatures from 800 °C, 900 °C, 1000 °C, and 1100 °C with growth times of 4 hours, 6 hours, or 8 hours at a fixed ramp time of 80 minutes were used as parameters in this study. Results from the SEM micrograph which was supported by EDX analysis showed that nanoparticles, triangular nanoplates, hexagonal nanoplates, nanowires, nanoribbons, nanorods, and nanocubes can be grown in the HVPC technique. The pour plate technique was employed to test the antimicrobial potency of the grown silver nanomaterials. Results revealed that the number of E. coli colonies grown when 105 CFU/mL of bacterial solution was exposed to a quartz tube with silver nanomaterials was decreased compared to when it was exposed to a quartz tube with or without silver powder.