Synthesis of silver–polystyrene nanocomposite particles using water in supercritical carbon dioxide medium and its antimicrobial activity

A novel method based on ex situ dispersion of silver nanoparticles within the monomers and subsequent emulsion polymerization using water-in-sc-CO2 medium is introduced in this paper. Silver nanoparticles were synthesized by chemical reduction of silver nitrate using sodium borohydrate as a reducing agent and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as a stabilizer in the water-in-sc-CO2 medium. The stable dispersion of silver nanoparticles was added slowly during the polymerization of styrene in the water-in-sc-CO2 maintaining the temperature at 70 °C and pressure at 20.68 MPa, respectively. The silver nanoparticles encapsulated within polymer particles were characterized by UV–visible spectroscopy, XRD, TGA, SEM and TEM. The silver/polystyrene nanocomposite particles exhibited antimicrobial activity against a number of bacteria. The current work represents a simple, reproducible and universal way to prepare a variety of metal–polymer nanocomposite particles.