Bulk gold is chemically inert, but when the size of gold particles is reduced to nanometre or sub-nanometre dimensions they begin to have very different physical and chemical properties. A team of researchers at the National University of Singapore has now found that gold nanoparticles smaller than around 2 nm are antimicrobial and can kill both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The particles could thus potentially be used as broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents and perhaps even help in the fight against antibiotic resistance to superbugs, which is becoming a serious health problem worldwide….
http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/tech/69076
