Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello! I'm planning to test the size of silver nanoparticles on E. Coli and Lactobacillus. I need help in developing a procedure to alter and manipulate the size of silver nanoparticles. From a video that I watched on Youtube Making Gold Nanoparticles I am aware that a darker colour indicates the agglomeration of nanoparticles and thus an increase in their size. In this video, they used Sodium Chloride (NaCl) to increase the size of the gold nanoparticles in colloidal solution. Since I am experimenting with silver nanoparticles, I am wondering what solution I should use for the same effect to increase the nanoparticle size of my colloidal silver. My goal in the experiment is to test whether the size of silver nanoparticles correlates with an increased toxicity to the bacteria. Thanks for the help!

Ryan

I am not very familiar with this but it looks like the chemistry of producing gold and silver nanoparticles is not that dissimilar: http://www.springer.com/cda/content/doc ... p176975801

More here: https://www.researchgate.net/file.PostF ... 2294794772

Do you have all of the other materials required to produce the nanoparticles?

Cheers,
Colin

Hi, thanks for the response!

I will not actually synthesize my own silver nanoparticles. Instead, I am using this product as a source:
http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Path-Silv ... er+500+ppm

Thank you for posting the second pdf. I found it very informative and easy to comprehend. So, if I understand in their experiment the addition of NaCl aggregated the silver nanoparticles, which increased their size? Thanks for the help, as I find this subject difficult to understand

Ryan

Hi Ryan, I am a cellular biologist and I admit that this is not my bailiwick either. I will look at the document again, but why don't you try cross-posting this question in the Physical Science forum?

Cheers,
Colin