A Review on Antimicrobial Chitosan-Silver Nanocomposites: A Roadmap Toward Pathogen Targeted Synthesis

In this review, the authors investigate different methods of synthesizing antimicrobial chitosan-silver nanocomposites and divided these nanocomposites into two major groups on the basis of metallic or ionic nature of silver. Chitosan-metallic silver composites were prepared by following different techniques: chemical, thermal, radiation (gamma ray or UV), and electrochemical. However, the polymeric nature of chitosan allows formation of complexes with silver ions. Their antimicrobial efficacy was evaluated by the disc diffusion method. The authors compare antimicrobial efficacy of all these materials based on the findings of various research groups to come up with a strategy for synthesizing chitosan-silver nanocomposites to target a specific pathogen. [GRAPHICS] .