I. Chemical reduction of silver ions generally in the presence of stabilizing agents
II. Thermal decomposition in organic solvents
III. Reversed micelle processes
IV. Photo reduction
V. Ultrasonic radiation
VI. 60Co-g-irradiation
VII. Microwave irradiation
Among the above mentioned methods, chemical reduction is a well established method to produce SNP with reproducible results and smaller particles sizes. Also, the chemical reduction method is very easy to carry out in a laboratory and it is a cost effective way of producing SNP. Moreover, using chemical reduction, SNP can easily be produced on a large scale. At the same time, the bottom up approach of producing nanoparticles offers very small nanoparticles as compared to that of a top down strategy (physical method) [20]. The citrate reduction method in aqueous medium is the most suitable method of making an alkaline solution of the nanocolloids [21–23].
The objective of this study was to produce a novel latex foam material that has antimicrobial properties against two main groups of bacteria and fungi. The antibacterial and antifungal properties of resultant NRL foam samples were evaluated for antibacterial activities by agar diffusion against E. coli, a Gram-negative bacterium, and S. aureus, a Gram-positive bacterium. Anti fungal activities of the resultant NRL foam pieces were investigated by parallel streak against Aspergillus niger as the fungus.
Based on the existing literature data found in many
international journals and websites, none of the publishedevidence has studied the antimicrobial properties of natural rubber latex foam. Also, none of the published
research work has synthesized SNP incorporated antimi- crobial NRLF foam. Therefore, this research work will be very useful to be considered by future researchers in the related field