Hello, I'm Sam.
I'm a researcher at a nanomaterial company in Taiwan, and recently I've encountered some problems that I'd like to seek help with. The company aims to determine the release of silver ions over time from a nanosilver solution (the solution only contains nanosilver + citrate solution, where citrate is added to prevent aggregation of nanosilver, so it can be largely ignored).
The plan is to centrifuge the nanosilver solution, with centrifugation conditions approximately 40,000x for 1 hour or 50,000x for 1 hour, and then take the supernatant for testing (centrifugation conditions have been tested internally in the past, which result in most of the nanosilver precipitating).
Building on the previous point, assuming the company's centrifugation conditions are correct, my understanding is that due to the lighter weight of ions, the supernatant after centrifugation should only contain silver ions. I'm not sure if this concept is correct ?After contacting several testing companies, I received responses stating that they were unable to perform the testing. The reason given was that they typically only test for nanosilver content and do not delve into the silver ion aspect. However, from my research, the antibacterial effects of nanosilver are supposed to come from silver ions. What could be the reason for this discrepancy?The company's nanosilver is produced using physical vapor deposition. I'm unsure if this method, compared to mainstream chemical or biological synthesis methods, has any impact on the release of silver ions from nanosilver (assuming particle size, surface potential, and other physicochemical conditions are the same). Are there any studies specifically addressing this, or do you have any information on this topic? (I've searched but haven't found suitable reference materials, so I'm not sure if I'm looking in the right direction).Any thoughts or suggestions you have on the above questions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.