Synthesis of silver nanoparticle-loaded sulfadiazine/polyvinyl alcohol nanorods and their antibacterial activities

Silver nanoparticle-loaded sulfadiazine/polyvinyl alcohol nanorods (Ag-SD/PVA NRs) were successfully synthesized in an ammonia solution, and were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, SEM and TEM. In the synthesis process, PVA was introduced to control the size of the silver sulfadiazine (SSD) precursor and further reduce SSD to produce Ag-SD/PVA NRs. The obtained Ag-SD/PVA NRs have an average width of 50 nm and a length of 300 nm, loaded with Ag NPs about 8 nm in size. As novel composite antibacterial agents, the Ag-SD/PVA NRs exhibited higher bactericidal efficacy in comparison to the Ag NPs and SSD microrods (MRs) alone. Additionally, these Ag-SD/PVA NRs showed concentration-dependent antibacterial behavior. At high concentrations, they displayed more effective antibacterial activity towards S. aureus than P. aeruginosa and E. coli, and at lower concentrations, they exhibited more effective antibacterial activity towards E. coli.