Synthesis, Characterization and Comparison of Antibacterial Activity of Chitosan Coated Silver and Dithiocarbamate Chitosan Coated Silver Nanoparticles

Silver nanoparticles are frequently used in biomedical applications due to their antimicrobial activity, especially in the production of wound dressing materials. In this study, dithiocarbamate chitosan compound, a derivative of chitosan, was synthesised. The synthesised dithiocarbamate chitosan was characterised by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry and C13-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy analyses. Silver nanoparticles coated with dithiocarbamate chitosan were successfully synthesised for the first time in this study. Chitosan-coated silver nanoparticles were also synthesised for comparison. The synthesised silver nanoparticles were characterised by ultraviolet-visible region spectrophotometry, size analysis and zeta potential measurements. The antibacterial activities of the synthesised silver nanoparticles against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria were tested using liquid medium dilution method. Characterisation results show that dithiocarbamate chitosan was successfully synthesised. The sizes of silver nanoparticles coated with chitosan and dithiocarbamate chitosan were determined as 175.202.98 and 158.001.27 nm and zeta potentials as 29.704.00 and 33.400.26 mV, respectively. From the results of antibacterial activity, it was determined that the synthesised nanoparticles showed a high antibacterial activity against bacteria. As a result, it was determined that dithiocarbamate chitosan coated silver nanoparticles obtained for the first time in this study have a great potential for use in the production of wound dressing materials due to their stability and high antibacterial effect.