Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of kappa-Carrageenan Beads Containing Silver Nanoparticles with Dye Adsorption and Antibacterial Properties

In this work, we used a simple and totally green method for synthesizing silver nanoparticles using kappa-carrageenan as reducing and stabilizing agent. The beads were prepared in aqueous medium by microwave heating, and then followed by cross-linking with K+ cations without using any additional toxic and expensive chemical agents. The preparation method of the carrageenan-based beads is easy, fast, simple, effective, and safe. The synthesized beads loaded with were characterized by ultraviolet-visible absorbance spectra, transmition electron microscopy and X-Ray diffraction techniques. The as-prepared beads were evaluated to remove cationic crystal violet dye from aqueous solutions. The thermodynamic parameters shown that the sorption process was feasible, spontaneous and endothermic. The kinetics and isotherm of crystal violet adsorption were found to well fit to pseudo-second-order kinetic and Langmuir isotherm model, respectively. Moreover, the antibacterial activity of the obtained beads was examined using the nutrient agar disc diffusion method.