Antibacterial effect and mechanism of silver-carried zirconium glycine-N,N-dimethylenephosphonate as a synergistic antibacterial agent

The synergistic effect of hybrid nanoparticles antibacterial agent, which is a heated discussed topic in the related field, can endow antibacterial agent much more antibacterial activity. In this work, silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs), of 16–20 nm in diameter, were immobilized onto the zirconium glycine-N,N-dimethylenephosphonate (ZGDMP) interlayer. As a result, a silver-carried zirconium glycine-N,N-dimethylenephosphonate (Ag-ZGDMP) has been successfully synthesized, which can effectively overcome the problem of Ag NPs' aggregation. The results also showed that Ag-ZGDMP possessed excellent antibacterial ability and long-lasting effects against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli), due to the synergetic antibacterial activity between ZGDMP and Ag NPs. Moreover, Ag-ZGDMP exhibited good thermal stability, and did not show obvious cytotoxicity against mammalian cells (A549 cells). It proves that Ag-ZGDMP is an efficient and non-cytotoxic synergetic antibacterial agent.