Ag-Containing Carbon Nanocomposites: Physico-Chemical Properties and Antimicrobial Activity

Abstract

The subject of the present work is the synthesis and analysis of the structural and morphological properties of Ag-containing carbon composites and the investigation of their practical application in water purification and disinfection. A series of composites were synthesized by carbonization of resorcinol–formaldehyde polymers filled with Ag-containing fumed silica under an inert atmosphere at 800 °C. The as-synthesized micro- and mesoporous carbon composites were characterized by their specific surface area of 466–529 m2/g. The suitability of the composites for flow-through filters was evaluated by kinetic studies on the adsorption of 4-chlorophenol. The composite with the highest amount of metallic nanophase showed the most effective kinetics with a rate constant (log k) and half-life (t0.5) of −2.07 and 81 min, respectively. The antimicrobial susceptibility was determined against Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923) and Gram-negative strains (Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC 700603, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, and Acinetobacter baumannii ATCC 19606). The zones of bacterial growth inhibition correlated with the silver nanoparticle content and were the lowest for RFC-02 (10–12 mm) and the highest for the RFC-1 composite (15–16 mm), resulting from the increase in number of evenly distributed small Ag nanoparticles (3–5 nm) in the samples.