Synergistic effects of combinatorial chitosan and polyphenol biomolecules on enhanced antibacterial activity of biofunctionalaized silver nanoparticles

The present study reports the synergistic antibacterial activity of biosynthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with the aid of a combination of chitosan and seaweed-derived polyphenols as a green synthetic route. Under optimum synthesis conditions, the rapid color change from yellowish to dark brown and UV–visible absorption peak at 425 confirmed the initial formation of AgNPs. DLS, TEM, XRD, and EDX analyses revealed the spherical shape of pure biogenic AgNPs with a mean diameter size of 12 nm ± 1.5 nm, and a face-centered cubic crystal structure, respectively. FTIR and TGA results indicated the significant contribution of chitosan and polyphenol components into silver ions bioreduction and thermal stability of freshly formed AgNPs. Long-term colloidal stability of AgNPs was obtained after 6-month storage at room temperature. The bio-prepared AgNPs possessed a negative surface charge with a zeta potential value of − 27 mV. In contrast to naked chemical silver nanoparticles, the green Ag nanosamples demonstrated the distinct synergistic antibacterial in vitro toward all selected human pathogens presumably due to the presence of high content of biomolecules on their surface. The results show that synergy between chitosan and polyphenol results in the enhancement of bactericidal properties of biogenic AgNPs. We also highlighted the underlying mechanism involved in AgNPs formation based on nucleophile–electrophile interaction.