Silver nanoparticles and carbon black were incorporated into poly (styrene-co-acrylic acid) using eco-friendly emulsion aggregation (EA) approach, with final application as an antibacterial electrophotographic printing ink, called toner. This approach was based on dispersing and
coagulating the nanosilver (nAg) and carbon black particles in styrene-co-acrylic latex (previously synthesized by the emulsion polymerization). XRD, and SEM-EDX revealed the silver nanoparticles to be located in the polymeric structure of toner. The antibacterial properties were determined
using the agarwell diffusion method against gram-negative (Escherichia coli). The nanocomposite produced via emulsion aggregation method showed highly potent antibacterial activity toward bacteria compared with the neat black toner, which makes it useful in anti-bacterial printing application.
The antibacterial property was, also, observed to increase with the concentration of the silver powder in nonlinear behavior.