*2.1. Materials*

Silver nitrate (AgNO3, ACS reagen<sup>t</sup> grade, ≥99.0%), nitric acid (HNO3, ACS reagen<sup>t</sup> grade, 68–70%), and acetone ((CH3)2CO, ACS reagen<sup>t</sup> grade, 99.5%) were obtained from Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, Missouri, United States; potassium persulfate (K2S2O8, ACS reagen<sup>t</sup> grade, ≥99.0%) and sodium chloride (NaCl, ACS reagen<sup>t</sup> grade, ≥99.0%) were obtained from VWR, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada; and silicic acid potassium salt solution (K2SiO3, 39.2 wt/wt%) was obtained from

PQ Corporation, Malvern, Pennsylvania, United States. All reagents were used without further purification. Unless otherwise mentioned, reverse osmosis (RO) water was used for all experimental procedures. *Staphylococcus aureus* (ATCC 6538) and *Pseudomonas aeruginosa* (ATCC 9027) strains were obtained from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), Manassas, Virginia, United States. Cultures were stored at ≤−70 ◦C and propagated on Mueller-Hinton agar (MHA) (at 37 ◦C for 24 h) immediately prior to experimentation.
