Microwave assisted κ-carrageenan capped silver nanocomposites for eradication of bacterial biofilms.

Maturation of bacterial biofilms and their resistance to recurrent antimicrobial agents results in convoluted infectious diseases. In the current study, kappa-Carrageenan (κ-Carrageenan/CRG), was used to formulate CRG-silver nanocomposites through a facile microwave green synthesis approach. CRG-Ag nanoparticles of size 50 ± 10 nm were obtained by using CRG as a reducing and stabilizing agent. CRG-Ag nanoparticles were highly effective against both S. aureus and P. aeruginosa mediated biofilms and acted as a broad spectrum antibacterial agent even after six months. CRG-Ag nanoparticles encapsulated in KCl cross-linked hydrogel also exhibited excellent thermal stability, and antimicrobial potency. All these results depict that CRG-Ag nanocomposites appear as a promising approach to eradicate bacterial biofilms in food packaging and biomedical applications.