Colloidal dispersion of metal nanoparticles electrosterically stabilized with Carrageenan type κ and its application as hydrogel.

In this work Carrageenan type κ was used as electrosteric stabilizer in order to prepare a biocompatible colloidal dispersion of novel metal nanoparticles. Gold and silver nanoparticles were synthesized by reducing the metal precursor using sodium borohydride in presence of Carrageenan type κ. The growth mechanism of metal nanoparticles and stabilization behavior by Carrageenan type κ was analyzed by UV-Vis spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The morphology and particle size distribution were also studied as a function of reaction parameters and the particle size was dependent of the pH of the reaction media. The Ag nanoparticles with sphere-like morphology and average size of 10 nm were obtained. The morphology of Au nanoparticles was strongly affected by the pH value resulting in particles with snake-like morphology at alkaline conditions. The UV-Vis spectra showed that Ag nanoparticles were highly stable at alkaline conditions and for long period of time. Au nanoparticles dispersion showed a better stability for long period of time at acidic conditions. The nanoparticles dispersion electrosterically stabilized were used to prepare hydrogels by poured into a plastic mold and frozen with liquid nitrogen and then lyophilized. The morphology and thermal stability of resulting composites were analyzed by using scanning electronic microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry respectively. The degradation temperature of Carrageenan type κ was increased due to the presence of metal nanoparticles.