Silver@Hydroxyapatite functionalized calcium carbonate composites: characterization, antibacterial and antibiofilm activities and cytotoxicity

Silver@Hydroxyapatite functionalized calcium carbonate composites have been prepared through differentsustainable methods, without involving the use of organic solvents and additional reagents. The composites werecharacterized by X-ray powder diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electronmicroscopy, spectrophotometric measurements and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy. From the characterizationtechniques, the obtained nanoparticles resulted constituted essentially by Ag3PO4 nanostructures, whose sizevaried from 70 to 100 nm and were uniformly distributed on the calcium carbonate surface. Upon VIS irradiation,the formation of plasmonic nanostructures with a more defined dimensional distribution and reduced sizecould be obtained, as a prove of a partial silver reduction. All composites exhibited good antimicrobial andantibiofilm activities against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa whereas they showed lowcytotoxicity effects towards human skin keratinocytes and human fibroblasts. These results enable these compositesto be promising candidates for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications.