Incorporation of Silver Ions into Zirconium Titanium Phosphate: A Novel Approach toward Antibacterial Activity

Silver exchanged zirconium titanium phosphates (Ag-ZTPs) are interesting materials because of their best antibacterial performance toward Escherichia coli (E. coli). Silver ions were incorporated into zirconium titanium phosphate (ZTP), a composite ion-exchanger, by an ion-exchange process conducted at 65 degrees C. This study focuses on the most thorough investigation of their synthesis, optical spectroscopy, absorption band (vibrational and rotational levels) spectra, morphology studies, elemental analysis, and antibacterial activity. Silver-exchanged zirconium titanium phosphates (Ag-ZTPs) were characterized by XRD (BAXS), DRUV-vis, FTIR, XPS, SEM-EDS, TEM, and AAS measurement. Silver ions are incorporated into ZTP which is well-known from X-ray photoelectron study, transmission electron microscopy, and energy dispersive spectra. It was found that 250 mg L-1 of 5 wt % Ag-ZTP possesses high antibacterial activity with 99% inhibition within 12 h of contact. Therefore, the present results strongly suggest the effective use of silver-exchanged zirconium titanium phosphates as antibacterial agents.