# Polymer-Stabilized Silver (Gold)-Zinc Oxide Nanoheterodimer Structures as Antimicrobials
## 3 Results
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Sample**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Content, \%**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**MIC (ug/mL)**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**FIC**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**FICI**} \\ \cline{2-2} \cline{5-10}  & **Ag\({}^{0}\)(Au\({}^{0}\))** & **ZnO** & **Zn\({}^{2*}\)** & **Sample \({}^{*}\)** & **Ag\({}^{0}\)** & **ZnO** & **Zn\({}^{2*}\)** & **Ag\({}^{0}\)(Au\({}^{0}\))** & **ZnO** & **Zn\({}^{2*}\)** & \\ \hline \multicolumn{10}{c}{_S. aureus MRSA_} \\ EM/Ag\({}^{0}\) & 42.8 & - & - & 27.3 & 11.5 & - & - & - & - & - & - \\ EM/Zn\({}^{2*}\) & - & - & 4.4 & 259.8 & - & - & 11.4 & - & - & - & - \\ EM/Ag\({}^{0}\)/ZnO & 38.0 & - & 11.1 & 28.1 & 10.7 & - & 3.0 & 0.91 & - & 0.26 & 1.17 \\ EM/Ag\({}^{0}\)/ZnO & 13.8 & 5.9 & - & 44.0 & 6.1 & 2.6 & - & 0.52 & 0.02 & - & 0.54 \\ EM/Ag\({}^{0}\)/ZnO/Zn\({}^{2*}\) & 14.4 & 5.5 & 4.2 & 45.5 & 6.55 & 2.5 & 1.89 & 0.57 & 0.02 & 0.16 & 0.59 \({}^{\rm c}\) \\ ZnO & - & 100 & - & 125.0 & - & 125.0 & - & - & - & - & - \\ VM/Ag\({}^{0}\) & 32.0 & - & - & 23.0 & 7.4 & - & - & - & - & - & - \\ VM/Zn\({}^{2*}\) & - & - & 6.4 & 419.3 & - & - & 26.8 & - & - & - & - \\ VM/Ag\({}^{0}\)/Zn\({}^{2*}\) & 24.6 & - & 8.7 & 49.4 & 12.1 & - & 4.3 & 1.05 & - & 0.16 & 1.21 \\ VM/Ag\({}^{0}\)/ZnO & 9.8 & 4.2 & - & 122.5 & 12.0 & 5.1 & - & 1.62 & 0.04 & - & 1.66 \\ VM/Ag\({}^{0}\)/ZnO/Zn\({}^{2*}\) & 10.4 & 4.0 & 3.1 & 62.6 & 6.5 & 2.5 & 1.92 & 0.88 & 0.02 & 0.07 & 0.90 \({}^{\rm c}\) \\ SM/Ag\({}^{0}\) & 32.4 & - & - & 23.1 & 7.5 & - & - & - & - & - & - \\ SM/Zn\({}^{2*}\) & - & - & - & 6.7 & 405.0 & - & - & 27.0 & - & - & - & - \\ SM/Ag\({}^{0}\)/Zn\({}^{2*}\) & 29.5 & - & 8.9 & 50.8 & 15.0 & - & 4.52 & 2.0 & - & 0.17 & 2.17 \\ SM/Ag\({}^{0}\)/ZnO & 11.0 & 4.2 & - & 59.8 & 6.6 & 2.5 & - & 0.88 & 0.02 & - & 0.90 \\ VM/Au\({}^{0}\) & 15.25 & - & - & 920.0 & 140.3 & - & - & - & - & - & - \\ VM/Au\({}^{0}\)/ZnO & 14.65 & 3.9 & - & 472.5 & 69.2 & 18.7 & - & 0.49 & 0.15 & - & 0.63 \\  & & & & & _E. coli_ & & & & & & \\ EM/Ag\({}^{0}\) & 42.8 & - & - & 6.8 & 2.9 & - & - & - & - & - & - \\ EM/Zn\({}^{2*}\) & - & - & 4.4 & 519.5 & - & - & 22.8 & - & - & - & - \\ EM/Ag\({}^{0}\)/Zn\({}^{2+}\) & 38.0 & - & 11.1 & 7.0 & 2.7 & - & 0.78 & 0.92 & - & 0.002 & 0.92 \\ EM/Ag\({}^{0}\)/ZnO & 13.8 & 5.9 & - & 11.0 & 1.5 & 0.65 & - & 0.51 & 0.0013 & - & 0.51 \\ EM/Ag\({}^{0}\)/ZnO/Zn\({}^{2+}\) & 14.4 & 5.5 & 4.2 & 22.8 & 3.3 & 1.25 & 0.96 & 1.13 & 0.0025 & 0.042 & 1.13 \({}^{\rm c}\) \\ ZnO \({}^{0}\) & - & 100 & - & 500.0 & - & 500.0 & - & - & - & - & - \\ VM/Ag\({}^{0}\) & 32.0 & - & - & 5.7 & 1.8 & - & - & - & - & - & - \\ VM/Zn\({}^{2*}\) & - & - & 6.4 & 419.3 & - & - & 26.8 & - & - & - & - \\ VM/Ag\({}^{0}\)/Zn\({}^{2*}\) & 24.6 & - & 8.7 & 6.2 & 1.5 & - & 0.54 & 0.83 & - & 0.02 & 0.85 \\ VM/Ag\({}^{0}\)/ZnO & 9.8 & 4.2 & - & 30.6 & 3.0 & 1.28 & - & 1.66 & 0.0030 & - & 1.66 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Antimicrobial properties of the samples (MIC—minimum inhibitory concentrations; FIC—fractional inhibitory concentration; FICI—fractional inhibitory concentration index). Figure 5: Ag 3d XPS spectrum of Ag\({}^{0}\)/ZnO structure stabilized with VM. All the samples obtained were active against the studied microbial strains. The MICs of samples containing AgNPs and zinc oxide for _S. aureus_ were in the range of 44-122, for _E. coli_ they were in the range of 11-31; for _C. albicans_ they were in the range of 2.7-3.8 \(\upmu\)g/mL. Thus, all preparations acted better on _C. albicans_ and _E. coli_ but not on _S. aureus_, as in publication [63], although there is evidence of a reverse trend [64; 91]. The differences are associated with different ratios of the metal-containing components in the samples and the nature of the copolymer stabilizers. In general, the samples containing AgNPs were the most active, and the preparations containing gold nanoparticles were the least active. Polymer zinc salts also showed low activity. However, ionic zinc in the copolymer EM turned out to be more active against _S. aureus_ than against _E.