ABSTRACT
This chapter summarises recent progress in investigating dissolution of Ag nanoparticles in aquatic systems and covers an overview of Ag nanoparticle synthesis and mechanisms, thermodynamics and kinetics of Ag nanoparticle dissolution. It summarises a few examples of Ag nanoparticle dissolution kinetic studies demonstrating how kinetics changes with intrinsic and solution properties. The predominant effect of the silver nanoparticle dissolution on their antibacterial activity was also confirmed by the observation that silver nanoparticles without dissolution did not show any measureable effect on bacteria. In addition to the size-dependent release of Ag, dissolution of silver nanoparticles leads to changes in nanoparticle size and shape, which could consequently affect silver nanoparticle long-term stability and toxicity. Oxidative dissolution of silver nanoparticles, therefore, will influence their antibacterial activity and silver nanoparticles with different shape, size and surface chemistry will exhibit different antibacterial properties. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how dissolution affects antimicrobial properties of the nanoparticles.
