Characterization and Antibacterial Properties of Metal Borates Vectorized As Ceramic Glaze Additives

Abstract Metal borate nanoparticles Silver (Ag), copper (Cu) and Zinc (Zn) were produced for a novel boron containing antibacterial ceramic applications. Different concentration, temperature, time parameters were varied for obtaining hierarchical metal borate embedded formulations. Synthesized nanostructures showed interesting crystalline and optical properties since temperature and concentration adjustments provided correlated shape and surface properties. Chemical analysis and crystallinity of both copper and silver formulations were defined using XRD and confirmed that temperature plays a deep role on the production of nanostructures. XPS analysis together with TEM investigations comprehensively provided all atomic compositions with their corresponding energy values in survey and high resolution region. Morphology and atomic purity was analyzed using EDX and SEM measurements revealed the morphological orientation of the nanostructures without other impurities. FT-IR and UV-Vis spectroscopy provided optical information about the obtained metal borate nanoparticles. Finally metal borate nanoparticles were utilized for 1x1 cm ceramic glazing samples for antibacterial applications. Silver borate nanoparticles were found to be more active in low concentrations than copper and zinc borate structures after the antibacterial test results were unveiled against to gram positive and gram negative microorganisms.