The development of Zeolite Antimicrobials agents began in 1984. A Japanese company first successfully developed silver-loaded zeolite antibacterial agents, which were widely used after commercialization.
Antibacterial products made of natural zeolite continue to emerge, involving household appliances, building materials, textiles, plastics, and other fields, and the market scale is expanding rapidly.
What are Zeolite Antimicrobials?
The antibacterial properties of zeolite antibacterial agents are related to silver ions. There are two main explanations for the research on the antibacterial mechanism of silver ions:
Contact reaction hypothesis
The contact reaction between silver ions and bacteria will cause the destruction of the inherent components of the bacteria or the dysfunction of the bacteria, resulting in the death of the bacteria.
When a small amount of silver ions reach the microbial cell membrane because the cell membrane is negatively charged, the silver ions are firmly adsorbed on the cell membrane by Coulomb gravity, and the silver ions can further penetrate the cell wall into the bacteria, and react with the sulfhydryl group in the bacteria, making the bacteria The coagulation of protein destroys the activity of bacterial cell synthetase, causing the cell to lose the ability to divide and proliferate and die.
When the bacterial cell loses its activity, the silver ions will dissociate from the bacterial cell and repeat the bactericidal activity, so its antibacterial effect is long-lasting.
Catalytic reaction hypothesis
Under the action of light, silver ions can act as catalytic active centers, activate oxygen in water and air, and generate hydroxyl radicals (OH) and active oxygen ions (O2-); Active oxygen ions (O2-) have a strong oxidizing ability, which can destroy the proliferation ability of bacteria in a short time, resulting in cell death, so as to achieve the purpose of antibacterial.
It can be seen from the above mechanism that silver ions have the characteristics of high efficiency, persistence, and broad-spectrum antibacterial since they act directly on the matrix of bacteria. There is no conclusion about the mechanism by which silver ion sterilization will be carried out. It is generally believed that the first sterilization mechanism is the main one under normal circumstances, and the photocatalytic process also plays a certain role.
Reference
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