Nanotechnology is currently one of the fastest growing scientific disciplines. An interesting area of research is the biosynthesis of metal nanoparticles using microorganisms including lactic acid bacteria. In the first part this diploma thesis focuses on verification of identity of bacterial species Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus paracasei by genus- and species-specific PCR. In the next part of experimental work the capability of six Lactobacillus strains to produce silver nanoparticles is tested. Synthesis of nanoparticles was confirmed for all the strains depending on the amount of added AgNO3 and on time of cultivation. Differences between the strains were detected.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Combating antimicrobial resistant infections caused by nosocomial pathogens poses a major public health problem globally. The widespread use of broad-spectrum antibiotics for the treatment of wound infections has led to the appearance of multidrug-resistant (MDR) microbes which further exacerbates the growth of microbes amongst patients. It may result in prolonged debility of the patient and an increase in healthcare costs due to prolonged hospital stays and expensive treatment regimens to avoid patient-patient transmission. Therefore, it is imperative that alternative sources of treatment to antimicrobial use in wound infections needs to be developed in order to inhibit or kill resistant microbes and to provide point of care medical treatment to the less fortunate at an affordable cost. / 2021-08-30

Supracrystals are highly symmetrical ordered superstructures built up from nanoparticles via self-assembly. While the NP assembly has been intensively investigated, the formation mechanism is still not understood. To shed some light onto the formation mechanism, we are using one of the most common supracrystal morphologies, the trigonal structures, as a model system to investigate the formation process in solution. To explain the formation of the trigonal structures and determining the size of the supracrystal seeds formed in solution, we introduce the concept of substrate-affected growth. Furthermore, we show the influence of the NP concentration on the seed size and extend our investigations from Ag towards Au. 1.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Nanotechnology has emerged as an elementary division of modern science and stemmed directly from green chemistry twelve basic concepts, it receives global attention due to its unique character and ample applications. It also has great potential to mitigate the challenges they face in various fields, especially medical sector. Nanodrugs are increasingly considered as a potential candidate to carry therapeutic agents safely into a targeted compartment in an organ, particular tissue or cell. In this study, twenty (20) Libyan plants were selected and evaluated for their potential to synthesis gold and silver nanoparticles. The screening of the different plant extracts was performed using 96 well plate method at 25 °C and 70 °C. The NPs formation was confirmed and characterized using UV- Vis, DLS, HR-TEM and EDX. A well-defined NPs were obtained at high temperature (70 °C). The Au NPs had an average diameter of 92 nm at 25 °C and 66 nm at 70 °C. The zeta potential values were observed to be negative (-14 to -24) and indicate the stability of the Au NPs. The HR-TEM showed polydispersity, which decreased at higher temperature (70 °C). The stability of Au NPs in nutrient broth prior was conducted as well. All the Au NPs under study showed stability, only minimal changes in the UV-Vis spectra can be observed. Two plant extract viz Pistacia atlantica, Junipers phoenicea showed consistent results and forming stable and smaller NPs compared to others, both of the plant extracts and the corresponding NPs were tested against Streptococcus mutans and showed MIC value ~ 49 g/mL. In case of silver NPs, two plant extracts viz J. phoenicea, Rosmarinus officinalis, showed superior results than the others; both plants produced stable and small Ag NPs. The antibacterial activity against S. mutans demonstrated MIC valus ~ 50 g/mL. The synthesised NPs showed a promising bioactivity for developments of new antibacterial agents against S. mutans strains. Dose-dependent activity was observed for the tested NPs.

Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war die Entwicklung eines neuartigen Abscheideverfahrens für Dünnschichten aus Polymer-Metall-Nanokompositen sowie die Charakterisierung sensorischer und antibakterieller Eigenschaften von ersten, mit diesem System abgeschiedenen Komposit-Schichten . Durch den Einbau eines rotierenden Probenhalters zwischen den beiden Plasmaquellen ist es möglich, Plasmapolymere und metallische Nanopartikel als Einzelschichten, Komposite oder Multischichten abzuscheiden. Mit der Gasflusssputterquelle werden Silber-Nanopartikel einer Größe von 1,8…20 nm mit einer Verteilungsbreite der gewichteten Normalverteilung von 0,1…2,7 nm durch Kathodenzerstäubung und anschließende Agglomeration der Cluster in der Gasphase generiert. Die Entladungsbedingungen, welche durch die Elektronentemperatur und -dichte charakterisiert werden, zeigen eine sprunghafte Änderung bei Drücken von 70…85 Pa und einer Spannung von 550 V. Ab einem Gasfluss von 3 slpm kehrt sich die Proportionalität zwischen zugeführter elektrischer Leistung und Elektronentemperatur um. Dies wird durch die vermehrte Emission von Sekundärelektronen erklärt. Die abgeschiedenen Partikel sind aus verschieden orientierten Clustern aufgebaut. Durch Kühlung des Substrates wurde nachgewiesen, dass eine Agglomeration auf dem Substrat nur bei Gasflüssen von 5 slpm stattfindet. Anhand der Auswertung von faktoriellen Versuchsplänen wurde gezeigt, dass der Gasfluss auf die Partikelgröße und Abscheiderate den größten Einfluss hat. Die Präkursoren Styrol, Methylmethacrylat und 3-Methyl-1,2-butadien wurden durch Plasmapolymerisation in einer 60 MHz-Linearquelle als dünne, homogene Schichten im nm-Bereich abgeschieden. Aus den Emissionsspektren von Argon konnten, unter Verwendung des Stoß-Strahlungs-Modells, Elektronendichten von 6*1010…1,5*1011 cm-3 und Elektronentemperaturen von 3…9 eV in Abhängigkeit von der Verweilzeit der Monomermoleküle im Plasma sowie des Energieeintrages berechnet werden. Die Elektronen haben bei Energieeinträgen oberhalb von 6*107 J/kg genügend Energie, um -Bindungen des Kohlenstoffs in der Gasphase zu spalten. Die freien Radikale initiieren Oxidationsreaktionen, was zur Bildung von Carbonylverbindungen in Schichten aus Styrol- und Isoprenplasmapolymeren führt. Die mit XPS-Messungen gefundenen hohen Sauerstoffgehalte der Plasmapolymer-Schichten konnten durch Kontaktwinkelmessungen bestätigt werden. Die Quellungsmessungen in organischen Lösungsmitteln (Aceton, Ethanol, Chloroform, Toluol) mit reflektometrischer Interferenzspektroskpie bestätigen die Tendenzen der Kontaktwinkelmessung im Fall von Styrol und Methylmethacrylat. Die Abscheiderate der Plasmapolymere wird besonders durch den Energieeintrag beeinflusst. Dabei zeigt sich nur bei Isopren eine deutliche Auswirkung der Abbaureaktionen.Die Härte der Isopren-Schichten korreliert ebenfalls mit der Elektronendichte. Die Perkolationsschwelle der Silber-Plasmapolymer-Nanokomposite liegt bei einem Füllgrad von 57 %, was typisch für Partikel mit geringem Aspektverhältnis ist. Die Schichten reagieren selektiv auf Dämpfe der Lösungsmittel. Bisher war die Langzeitstabilität von Membranen zur Trinkwasseraufbereitung durch Ultrafiltration durch das starke Wachstum von Mikroorganismen auf der Membranoberfläche eingeschränkt. Dies konnte durch die Beschichtung mit Silber-MMA-Kompositen verbessert werden. Durchflussmessungen an behandelten Membranen sowie elektronenmikroskopische Aufnahmen bestätigen die gute antibakterielle Wirkung der Beschichtung.

Plasmonic properties of self-assembled silver nanoparticles/nanowires array on periodically patterned Si (100) substrate are reported with special attention on the mechanism of nanoparticles self-assembly. The advantage of this bottom up approach over other self-assembling and lithographic methods is the flexibility to tune array periodicity down to 20 nm with interparticle gaps as low as 5 nm along the ripple. Ripple pattern have shallow modulation (~2 nm) still particles self-assembly was observed in non-shadow deposition. Therefore adatoms diffusion and kinetics is important on ripple surface for the self-assembly. PVD e-beam evaporation method used for deposition has proven to be superior to sputter deposition due to lower incident flux and lower atom energy. It was found that particles self-assembly largely dependent on angle of incidence, substrate temperature, and deposition direction due to ripple asymmetric tilt. Ostwald ripening observed during annealing on ripples substrate has striking dependency on ripple periodicity and was found to be different compared to Ostwald ripening on flat Si surface. In-situ RBS measurements of deposited silver on flat and rippled substrate confirmed different sticking of atoms on the two surfaces. The difference between maximum and minimum of the calculated local flux show a peak at an incidence angle of 70o with respect to surface normal. This explains the best alignment of particles at this angle of incidence compare to others. Self-assembled nanoparticles are optically anisotropic, i.e. they exhibit a direction dependent shift in LSPR. The reason of the observed anisotropy is a direction dependent plasmonic coupling. Different in plane and out of the plane dielectric coefficients calculated by modelling Jones matrix elements, confirms that nanoparticle/nanowire array are biaxial anisotropic (ex ¹ ey ¹ ez). The nanoparticles are predominantlyinsulating while nanowires are both metallic and insulating depending on the dimension. Silver nanoparticles/nanowires self-aligned on pre-patterned rippled substrate are presented for the first time as an active SERS substrate. Anisotropic SERS response in such arrays is attributed to different field enhancement along and across the ripples. Strong plasmonic coupling in elongated nanoparticles chain results in significantly higher SERS intensity then spherical nanoparticles/nanowires and non-ordered nanoparticles. Higher SERS intensity across the nanowires array in comparison to along the array (bulk silver) confirms electromagnetic field enhancement (hot-junction) is responsible for SERS phenomenon. Self-assembly of cobalt nanoparticle on ripple pattern substrate is also reported. Due to less adatom mobility and higher sticking cobalt self-assembly is possible only at much higher temperature. A strong uniaxial magnetic anisotropy was observed not observed for non ordered cobalt particles.

Mechanism underlying nanotoxicity has remained elusive. Hence, efforts to understand whether nanoparticle properties might explain its toxicity are ongoing. Considering three different types of organo-coated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs): citrate-coated AgNP, polyvinylpyrrolidone-coated AgNP, and branched polyethyleneimine-coated AgNP, with different surface charge scenarios and core particle sizes, herein we systematically evaluate the potential role of particle size and surface charge on the toxicity of the three types of AgNPs against two model organisms, Escherichia coli and Daphnia magna. We find particle size, surface charge, and concentration dependent toxicity of all the three types of AgNPs against both the test organisms. Notably, Ag+ (as added AgNO3) toxicity is greater than each type of AgNPs tested and the toxicity follows the trend: AgNO3>BPEI-AgNP>Citrate-AgNP>PVP-AgNP. Modeling particle properties using the general linear model (GLM), a significant interaction effect of primary particle size and surface charge emerges that can explain empirically-derived acute toxicity with great precision. The model explains 99.9% variation of toxicity in E. coli and 99.8% variation of toxicity in D. magna, revealing satisfactory predictability of the regression models developed to predict the toxicity of the three organo-coated AgNPs. We anticipate that the use of GLM to satisfactorily predict the toxicity based on nanoparticle physico-chemical characteristics could contribute to our understanding of nanotoxicology and underscores the need to consider potential interactions among nanoparticle properties to explaining nanotoxicity.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) synthesized using numerous types of coating materials may exhibit different toxicity effects. The study evaluated coating material dependent toxicity by selecting 3 types of AgNP synthesis methods with different coating materials (citrate, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, and branched polyethyleneimine, coated AgNPs as citrate-AgNPs, PVP-AgNPs, and BPEI-AgNPs respectively). Two acute aquatic toxicity tests were performed; 48hr D. magna and MetPLATE E. coli toxicity tests. Significantly different toxicity effects were observed in D. magna test exhibiting lethal median concentrations (LC50) for citrate-AgNPs, PVP-AgNPs, and BPEI AgNPs respectively as, 2.7, 11.2, and 0.57μg/L. Median inhibitory concentrations (EC50) for MetPLATE tests were 1.27, 1.73, and 0.31mg/L respectively with significant different toxicity effects. Silver ion fractions were detected in the range of 2.4-19.2% in tested NP suspensions. Study suggests the toxicity effects are due to the cumulative action of ionic and nanoparticle fractions in the suspensions.

L'émergence de bactéries multirésistantes dues à une utilisation abusive d'antibiotiques est devenue l'une des menaces les plus dangereuses pour la santé publique. Le développement de nouveaux médicaments et la recherche d'agents antibactériens non traditionnels ont conduit à la nanotechnologie en tant que solution potentielle à ce problème. Les nanoparticules d'argent (NPs d’Ag) sont largement connues pour leur effet antibactérien. Cette étude vise à synthétiser des NPs d’Ag avec différents revêtements et à relier leurs propriétés physico-chimiques à leurs activités biocides, en mettant l'accent sur la façon dont leur charge de surface (estimée par leur potentiel zêta) affecte leurs efficacités antibactériennes et anti-biofilm. Les NPs d’Ag ont été synthétisées en utilisant du citrate comme agent de stabilisation et du polyvinylpyrrolidone, du polyéthylène glycol, de la chitosane et du polyéthylèneimine comme revêtements. La Spectroscopie de Masse à Plasma Inductif de Particule Unique, la Diffusion de Lumière Dynamique et les mesures de potentiel zêta ont été utilisées pour caractériser les NPs d’Ag préparées. La caractérisation des formulations de nanoparticules a montré qu'elles avaient des diamètres similaires d'environ 10 nm et des charges allant de -46 mV à 16 mV. Les comptages de plaques d'agar et les tests de micro dilution ont montré que les NPs d’Ag synthétisées étaient très efficaces pour empêcher la croissance des cellules bactériennes Escherichia coli. Des biofilms d'E. coli ont été cultivés et exposés aux NPs d’Ag, puis vérifiés à l'aide d'une microscopie à balayage laser confocal montrant que les formulations de NP avec un potentiel zêta négatif avaient plus d'activité anti-biofilm que les NP chargées neutres ou positives. / The emergence of multidrug resistant bacteria due to the misuse of antibiotics has become one of the most dangerous threats to public health. Development of new drugs and the search for non-traditional antibacterial agents have led to nanotechnology as a potential solution to this problem. Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) are widely known for their antibacterial effect. This study aims to synthesize Ag NPs with different coatings and relate their physicochemical properties with their biocidal activities, with special emphasis on how their surface charge (estimated via their zeta potential) affects their antibacterial and antibiofilm efficacies. Ag NPs were synthesized using citrate as a stabilizing agent and polyvinyl pyrrolidone, polyethylene glycol, chitosan and polyethyleneimine were used as coatings. Single Particle Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy, Dynamic Light Scattering, and zeta potential measurements were used to characterize the prepared Ag NPs. Characterization of the nanoparticle formulations showed that they had similar diameters of around 10 nm and charges ranging from -46 mV to 16 mV. Agar Plate Counts and microdilution assays showed that the synthesized Ag NPs were very effective in preventing growth of Escherichia coli bacterial cells. E. coli biofilms were grown and exposed to the Ag NPs and checked afterwards with a confocal laser scanning microscopy showing that NP formulations with a negative zeta potential had more anti-biofilm activity than neutral or positive charged NPs.

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