Discovery of ionic silver in silver nanoparticle suspension fabricated by arc discharge method

As a result of mankind's over-reliance on antibiotics, germs are becoming more drug-resistant every year. The gradual but inexorable decline in the efficacy of traditional antibiotics is forcing scientists and doctors to search for new weapons in the fight against germs. Metallic silver nanoparticle (Ago) and ionic silver (Ag+) are the future of the post-antibiotic era, with the latter playing perhaps the central role in this fight. Using the arc discharge method (ADM), our research has allowed us to fabricate silver nanoparticle suspension (SNPS) in deionized water with no added surfactants. Most related research in this field is confined to explore the composition of nanoparticle, ignoring ions. However, we aim to identify and measure the proportion of ionic silver in ADM-SNPS, using conductivity meters, centrifuges, titrator, and atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AA). The results of our experiments show that SNPS fabricated by means of ADM with no added surfactants contains metallic silver nanoparticle and ionic silver. The fabrication consumes silver rods at a rate of 100 mg/min, yielding metallic silver nanoparticle and ionic silver with concentrations of approximately 11 ppm and 19 ppm, respectively. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.