title: Potential Environmental Impacts and Antimicrobial Efficacy of Silver- and Nanosilver-Containing Textiles.
abstract: For textiles containing nanosilver, we assessed benefit (antimicrobial efficacy) in parallel with potential to release nanosilver (impact) during multiple life cycle stages. The silver loading and method of silver attachment to the textile highly influenced the silver release during washing. Multiple sequential simulated household washing experiments for fabric swatches in deionized water with or without detergent showed a range of silver release. The toxicity of washing experiment supernatants to zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos was negligible, with the exception of the very highest Ag releases (∼1 mg/L Ag). In fact, toxicity tests indicated that residual detergent exhibited greater adverse response than the released silver. Although washing the fabrics did release silver, it did not affect their antimicrobial efficacy, as demonstrated by >99.9% inhibition of E. coli growth on the textiles, even for textiles that retained as little as 2 μg/g Ag after washing. This suggests that very little nanosilver is required to control bacterial growth in textiles. Visible light irradiation of the fabrics reduced the extent of Ag release for textiles during subsequent washings. End-of-life experiments using simulated landfill conditions showed that silver remaining on the textile is likely to continue leaching from textiles after disposal in a landfill.
authors.affiliation: School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Arizona State University , Tempe, Arizona 85287-3005, United States.|Department of Chemistry and Geochemistry, Colorado School of Mines , Golden, Colorado 80401, United States.
authors.forename: Robert B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Reed
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oregon , Eugene, Oregon 97403, United States.
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zaikova
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Geochemistry, Colorado School of Mines , Golden, Colorado 80401, United States.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barber
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Environmental Health Sciences Center, Marine and Freshwater Biomedical Sciences Center, Oregon State University , Corvallis, Oregon 97331, United States.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Simonich
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, Maryland 21218, United States.
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lankone
authors.affiliation: The Polytechnic School, Arizona State University Polytechnic Campus , Mesa, Arizona 85212, United States.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marco
authors.affiliation: The Polytechnic School, Arizona State University Polytechnic Campus , Mesa, Arizona 85212, United States.
authors.forename: Kiril
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hristovski
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Arizona State University , Tempe, Arizona 85287, United States.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Herckes
authors.affiliation: School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Arizona State University , Tempe, Arizona 85287-3005, United States.
authors.forename: Laurel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Passantino
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, Maryland 21218, United States.
authors.forename: D Howard
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Fairbrother
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Environmental Health Sciences Center, Marine and Freshwater Biomedical Sciences Center, Oregon State University , Corvallis, Oregon 97331, United States.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tanguay
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Geochemistry, Colorado School of Mines , Golden, Colorado 80401, United States.
authors.forename: James F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Ranville
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oregon , Eugene, Oregon 97403, United States.|Dune Sciences, Inc. , 1900 Millrace Drive, Eugene, Oregon 97403, United States.
authors.forename: James E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Hutchison
authors.affiliation: School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Arizona State University , Tempe, Arizona 85287-3005, United States.
authors.forename: Paul K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Westerhoff
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003902:Detergents / Q000494:pharmacology; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000187:drug effects; D004777:Environment; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects; D008027:Light; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000633:toxicity*; D012834:Silver / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013784:Textiles; D013997:Time Factors; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity*; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000196:embryology
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D003902:Detergents; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D012834:Silver