Characterization and antimicrobial properties of soda lime glass prepared by silver/sodium ion exchange

In recent years, there has been growing interest in glasses showing antimicrobial property. Their high chemical stability, hardness, transparency and long lasting antimicrobial activity makes them favorably usable for many different applications either in bulk or powdered form. The present study deals with imparting antimicrobial property to the powdered soda lime glasses by applying ion exchange treatment. Ag+–Na+ exchange was realized using AgNO3–NaNO3 ionic medium at different concentrations for varying ion exchange temperature and ion exchange time. Glasses were evaluated in terms of the amount of incorporated silver into the glass, possible phase formations after the ion exchange treatment, the concentration of released silver ions into aqueous environment and their antimicrobial kullanılabactivity. Silver incorporation into the glass was efficiently realized within the studied experimental conditions. Silver release behavior of the glass samples were examined in aqueous environment; the results showed that the controlled level of release was obtained. Antimicrobial susceptibility test using liquid broth medium were performed to evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of the glasses against Escherichiacoli, Staphylococcusaureus and Candidaalbicans cells. Glasses showed strong antimicrobial activity against the selected microorganisms within the 24 hours contact time.