Silver armor against bacteria: A battle of antimicrobial effectiveness

Authors: ZAIDI, ALINA - Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy; Hunter, Wayne

Submitted to: Journal of Emerging Investigators
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/20/2026
Publication Date: 3/23/2026
Citation: Zaidi, A., Hunter, W.B. Silver armor against bacteria: A battle of antimicrobial effectiveness. Journal of Emerging Investigators. 9(1):1-7. 2026. https://doi.org/10.59720/25-100.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59720/25-100

Interpretive Summary: Pathogenic bacteria cause devastating losses in fruit trees, vineyards, and food crops estimated at one billion dollars each year. Researchers demonstrated a low-cost production, Do-It-Yourself method, that produced colloidal silver solutions with significant antimicrobial activity. Effective silver solutions were produced using a 72-volt system with a 98% silver source (~3 grams silver). The low cost, silver solutions significantly suppressed the growth of both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria tested on cultures in glass plates, at five parts-per-million or greater. Addition of stabilizing agents such as citrate-capping could improve their capacity to significantly suppress bacteria species. The commercial product used as the ‘positive control’ successfully suppressed all five bacteria species tested. Further development of these antibacterial silver treatments could provide agricultural growers with a low-cost, effective strategy against bacterial pathogens.

Technical Abstract: Pathogenic bacteria cause devastating losses in fruit trees, vineyards, and food crops estimated at one billion dollars each year. The lack of treatments against the plant-pathogenic bacteria, Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, causing Citrus Greening Disease, led researchers to develop a low-cost production method, for colloidal silver solutions (silver nanoparticles, AgNp) with significant antimicrobial activity. The Kirby-Bauer test compared the effects of each AgNP treatment on two Gram-positive species (Bacillus cereus and Micrococcus luteus) and three Gram-negative species (Branhamella catarrhalis, Rhodospirillum rubrum, and Serratia marcescens). Results show that low-cost systems can produce antibacterial nano-silver solutions when used at concentrations greater than five parts-per-million. The commercially bought citrate-capped AgNp, 10 nm diameter, used as the 'positive control' suppressed all five bacteria species. These results show that nano-silver low-cost systems may need to be examined as viable, affordable antibacterial treatments. Development of these types of low-cost systems could support small and large agriculture production across America.