A pseudotriangular layered platelet composed of silver 2- mercaptoethane sulfonate and its dual effects as pearlescent and antimicrobial pigments

Abstract

Pearls have been highly valued as gemstones for thousands of years because of their unique and fascinatingcolors. However, it was difficult to harvest pearls in large quantities in nature due to their scarcity. Thus, there has been a steady demand for the development of artificial pearlescent pigments, andsubstrate-based pigments composed of mica substrates with coated metal oxide layers were introducedin the 1960s. Although these pigments remain the most common pearlescent pigments up to date, theyhave no other functions except for the pearlescent effect. Herein, we present novel micron-sized particleswhich are layered platelets with a unique pseudotriangular shape (triangular with concave sides and abifurcated vertex) and composed of antimicrobial reagents, silver cations, and 2-mercaptoethane sulfonateanions. These particles exhibit both pearlescent and antimicrobial properties owing to their structure(layered platelets) and constituents (antimicrobial reagents), respectively. An additional advantageof these particles is that they can be prepared in one-pot process through a precipitation reaction by simplymixing two aqueous solutions containing silver cations and sodium 2-mercaptoethane sulfonateanions. These particles can potentially be used as pigments requiring both pearlescent and antimicrobialproperties in the pigment field.