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Laboratory waste minimization by recovery of silver as nano-silver colloidal dispersion from waste silver chloride

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Abstract

The use of cyclic experiments, where the product of one reaction becomes the starting material for the next experiment, was proposed as an effective protocol for waste minimization in an educational lab. A simple, cheap and pollution-free method was developed for recovering silver as nano-silver colloidal dispersion from waste silver chloride in the laboratories of the Faculty of Health, Safety and Environment. Silver nanoparticles of the size 5–18 nm were recovered in the presence of sodium borohydride as a reducing agent and polyvinylpyrrolidone as a stabilizer agent. The nano-silver particles were studied for their formation, structure, stability and size using UV–Vis spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering techniques. The antibacterial assays of nanoparticles showed satisfactory results for Escherichia coli ATCC25922, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213, and Acinetobacter baumanii (Clinical isolate). A laboratory experiment was designed in which students synthesize yellow colloidal silver solution from chemical waste silver chloride and estimate particle size using visible spectroscopy.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the National Elites Foundation, Iran, for providing financial support to the project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Health, Safety and Environment, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, P.O. Box 16858-116, Tehran, Iran

    Shokooh Sadat Khaloo, Marzieh Torabbeigi & Reza Khani Jazani

  2. Department of Pathobiology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Masoumeh Douraghi

  3. Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Zohreh Ghalavand

Authors
  1. Shokooh Sadat Khaloo
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  2. Marzieh Torabbeigi
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  3. Reza Khani Jazani
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  4. Masoumeh Douraghi
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  5. Zohreh Ghalavand
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Correspondence to Shokooh Sadat Khaloo.

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Khaloo, S.S., Torabbeigi, M., Jazani, R.K. et al. Laboratory waste minimization by recovery of silver as nano-silver colloidal dispersion from waste silver chloride. J Mater Cycles Waste Manag 15, 342–347 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-013-0123-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-013-0123-z

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