Atmospheric pressure microplasma assisted growth of silver nanosheets and their inhibitory action against bacteria of clinical interest

Two-dimensional staggered silver nanosheets were synthesized using a facile atmospheric microplasma electrochemical process at room temperature. It is an environmental friendly technique that does not include toxic reducing agents. In this technique, microplasma directly reduces Ag⁺ ions into an electrolyte solution. The synthesized silver nanosheets were investigated by scanning electron microscope, x-ray diffraction, ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy and fourier transform infrared  spectroscopy. This type of morphology has not yet been reported using a microplasma technique. The antibacterial activity of the as-synthesized nanosheets against Klebsiella pneumoniae , the Staphylococcus strain, Escherichia coli and Acinetobacter was carried out using a disc diffusion method. The results indicated that these sheets show significant antibacterial activity against Klebsiella pneumoniae , Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Acinetobacter compared with that of the standard antibiotic. (paper)