At pH 8 the main acid groups present in alginate (−COOH) are deprotonated (Rey-Castro et al., 2004) providing the AgNP with a net negative charge (see ζ-potential values in Table 1).
At pH 8 the main acid groups present in alginate (−COOH) aredeprotonated (Rey-Castro et al., 2004) providing the AgNP with a netnegative charge (see ζ-potential values in Table 1).