Dissolution of Silver Nanowires and Nanospheres Dictates Their Toxicity to Escherichia coli

Table 2

Physicochemical characteristics of Ag nanospheres and nanowires (NWs).

	Primary size^1, nm	𝜁-potential^2, mV (pH)	Hydrodynamic size^3, nm (pdi)	Dissolution^4, %
Ag NWs	100±40×6100±2700	−46 (7.0)	Not relevant^5	2.4
Ag spheres	83±37	−36 (7.2)	98±1.8 (0.25)	2.2

1Determined from scanning electron micrographs; 𝑛=20.
²Analyzed using electrophoretic light scattering method. The data were analyzed using Smoluchowski approximation.
³Hydrodynamic size is based on dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurement. pdi: polydispersity index.
⁴% nanomaterial dissolved was analyzed from ultracentrifuged extracts of 36 mg/L (Ag spheres) or 15 mg/L (Ag nanowires) dispersions by GF-AAS.
⁵Dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurement is not relevant for rod-shaped particles.