Good morning, James, The Van der Waals force may be an important part of CS, by enveloping Ag nanocrystals in a wrapping of waters of hydration, perhaps even several layers of waters of hydration.
If so, this might explain oligodynamism. Ag nanocrystals wrapped in thick layers of attached water might need plenty of inter-particulate distance to avoid interacting with each other. Thus, dilution could enhance potency, a phenomenon that has actually been observed. Matthew
