Synthesis and characterization of hybrid materials with embedded silver nanoparticles and their application as antimicrobial matrices for waste water purification

Polyvinyl alcohol/aminopropyltriethoxysilane hybrid materials with embedded silver nanoparticles (PVA/APTEOS/AgNps) have been synthesized for the first time using sol-gel method. The successful formation of silver nanoparticles embedded into PVA/APTEOS matrices has been proven by UV-vis and TEM analyses. The presence of fungicidal activity of thus prepared PVA/APTEOS/AgNps materials against different control and clinical strains has been established applying disk diffusion method (DDM). The hybrid materials were tested as matrices for immobilization of Trichosporon cutaneum R57 capable to remove Mn2+ from aqueous solutions. This strain showed considerable ability to remove Mn2+ ions from aqueous solutions at low silver nanoparticles content into the PVA/APTEOS matrices. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.