Novel hybrid material thin films based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) with embedded silver nanoparticles (AgNps) were synthesized using sol-gel method. Two different strategies for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles in PVA/TEOS matrix were applied based on reduction of the silver ions by thermal annealing of the films or by preliminary preparation of silver nanoparticles using PVA as a reducing agent. The successful incorporation of silver nanoparticles ranging from 5 to 7nm in PVA/TEOS matrix was confirmed by TEM and EDX analysis, UV-Vis spectroscopy and XRD analysis. The antibacterial activity of the synthesized hybrid materials against etalon strains of three different groups of bacteria -Staphylococcus aureus (gram-positive bacteria), Escherichia coli (gram-negative bacteria), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (non-ferment gram-negative bacteria) has been studied as they are commonly found in hospital environment. The hybrid materials showed a strong bactericidal effect against E. coli, S. aureus and P. aeruginosa and therefore have potential applications in biotechnology and biomedical science.
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