I'm raising this question on the behalf of my colleague. She is working on nano composite material synthesis.She wanted to check anti-microbial activity of the composite. Whenever, she prepares the sample, it gets settled down. So, she performed sonication before loading into the wells. But still the substances are not dissolved properly. Can someone tell me how to fix this? Any other methods are available to dissolve this?
So you have to separate thoughts to deal with. First is you are not really trying to dissolve the composite other wise it wouldn't be a composite anymore. The real question you need to address is how can you get your composite into a stable suspension. To address this you will need to figure out the surface chemistry of your composite and then look at what you are suspending the materials in. A major drivers of getting your composites into stable suspension are going to be ionic strength of your solution and the surface chemistry of your composites.
If concern is solubility of active ingredients, they may still be diffusing out of the composite formulation. Rate of diffusion could vary based on particle size and innate solubility of active ingredients.
A simpler way to generate useful information for aerobic growth is to produce discs of composite material and place them on top of agar plates where the test bacteria has been evenly spread. After a suitable growth period, measure the diameter of the circle around the disc where there is no bacterial growth, which will be directly dependent on the effective concentration of bactericidal or bacteriostatic compound(s) present in the composite formulation.
So you have to separate thoughts to deal with. First is you are not really trying to dissolve the composite other wise it wouldn't be a composite anymore. The real question you need to address is how can you get your composite into a stable suspension. To address this you will need to figure out the surface chemistry of your composite and then look at what you are suspending the materials in. A major drivers of getting your composites into stable suspension are going to be ionic strength of your solution and the surface chemistry of your composites.
I agree with you Daniel, the problem seems to be in suspension stability. Actually, when it comes to nanomaterials, you don't want to DISSOLVE them, you want to DISPERSE them. The main parameter which is responsible for aggregation of nanomaterials is zeta potential (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeta_potential).
Thank you all. I will convey the message to my colleague.
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