Preparation of Fe3O4 encapsulated-silica sulfonic acid nanoparticles and study of their in vitro antimicrobial activity

A simple and efficient method for the functionalization of silica-coated Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4@SiO2) using chlorosulfonic acid is described. The prepared compounds were screened for antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli (E. coli ATCC 25922) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus ATCC 25923) under UV-light and dark conditions. It was found that the Fe3O4@SiO2-SO3H was significantly indicated the higher photocatalytic inactivation than both Fe3O4 and Fe3O4@SiO2 against E. coli in compared with S. aureus. Furthermore, the inactivation efficiency against both organisms under light conditions has been higher than this efficiency under dark conditions. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.