Synthesis and surface modification of colloidal silver nanoparticles and their cytotoxic effect on HuH7 cells

Abstract

Stable colloidal solutions containing metal nanoparticles are important for biomedical applications. Phase transfer of metal nanoparticles from aqueous solutions to organic solvents plays a vital role in development of stable metal nanoparticles. The transferred metal nanoparticles show superior stability for longer periods of time if stored under proper physiological conditions. Moreover colloidal metal nanoparticles can also be transferred back to aqueous solution via polymer coating and further used in different application. This work proposed silver nanoparticles synthesized via two phase method where dodecylamine is used as phase transfer agent. Nanoparticle synthesis was confirmed by UV-vis spectroscopy. The presence of surface Plasmon absorption peak corresponding to metal nanoparticles and a clear red shift from the absorption peak of citrate coated silver nanoparticles shows that the agglomeration occurs during phase transfer. Furthermore silver nanoparticles were coated with polymer to suspend it back in aqueous solution and also able to use in further application like drug attachment. Polymer and drug attachment both were confirmed from UV-spectroscopy, gel electrophoresis and FTIR. Silver nanoparticles synthesized were used for studying their antibacterial and cytotoxicity.