In recent decades there has been spectacular
development in the field of hybrid materials and especially metal-biopolymers,
due to the possibility they offer of combining in a single material the
properties of traditional biopolymers with those of some metals, to improve
antimicrobial capacity. For this reason, the objective of this work is to
combine the properties of Ag-Cu nanospheres with almylopectin and amylose
biofilms from Vicia faba (dry bean) and study the effect of the particles on
the physical, chemical and structural properties of the resulting membrane,
especially the inhibitory effect on the growth of microorganisms. The
chemical structure, morphology and optoelectronic properties of the materials
in their different stages of formation were studied and characterized with
qualitative and quantitative analysis methods. Chemical structure analysis was
analyzed with a spectrophotometer in the range of 550-4000 cm-1 by applying 100
scans. Morphological characterization was carried out by scanning electron
microscopy and microstructure by optical microscopy. The crystal structure was
analyzed by X-ray diffraction and the surface chemical states by X-ray
photoelectron spectroscopy.
The Vicia faba amylopectin biofilm with Ag-Cu
nanospheres is a material with multilayer morphology that combines the organic
and inorganic part; The result is biodegradable films with semiconductor
characteristics with possible conductive capacity. Now, according to this
analysis, the components with the highest availability are C and O with atomic
percentages equivalent to: 41.66% and 57.40%, for Cu and Ag they are 0.80% and
0.14% respectively.
The hybrid material obtained presents inhibition of
microbial growth due to the antibacterial and antifungal property of silver and
copper; It is observed that the antimicrobial effect of these nanoparticles
increases with the concentration used, so this inhibition is probably due to
the increase in interruptions generated by heavy metal nanoparticles on the
surface of the cell membrane, thus generating poor functioning of cellular
components such as DNA, lipids, peptidoglycans and proteins.
We thank the TESSFP, the TECNM and the ININ for their support in the development of this work.
