Rapid green assembly of antimicrobial nanobunches

Antimicrobial nanobunches with different amounts of chitosan-capped Ag were prepared by continuous gas-liquid green route under ultrasound irradiation. Spark-produced aerosol Cu nanoparticles were directly injected into an ultrasound Ag(I)-chitosan reaction cell for efficient hydrosolization of the Cu particles and the subsequent incorporation of Ag and chitosan on Cu. Subsequently, electrospraying was used to form of chitosan-capped Cu-Ag nanobunch coatings. The time required for reducing the bacterial proliferation to 50% dropped to ~1 h at a nanobunch concentration of 10 μg mL(−1) from the 2.0 min Ag(I) reaction time, and was further decreased to ~0.5 h by increasing the concentration of the nanobunches to 90 μg mL(−1). The nanobunches were directly coated onto the substrate using an electrospray device to fabricate transparent films and composite fibers. The antimicrobial activity of the composite carbon fibers was then evaluated via the disc diffusion method.