Safe and ecofriendly persistent sanitizing gel for topical application

A safe and ecofriendly sanitizing hydro-alcoholic gel composition for topical application with instant and persistent antimicrobial activity comprising:

• a) 60 to 70% by weight of ethyl alcohol;
• b) 5 to 100 ppm by weight of silver nanoparticles;
• c) 0.2 to 5% by weight of fatty acids derived from Tung seed oil, wherein at least about 80% of the fatty acids are α-eleostearic acid (ESA);
• d) 0.2 to 2% by weight of carbohydrate based gelling agents/thickeners;
• e) optionally, 1 to 5% by weight of skin benefiting agents;
• and
• f) demineralized water to make up 100% w/w,
• wherein at least a portion of the silver nanoparticles and at least a portion of the ESA are present in the form of ESA-silver nanoparticle complexes where the ESA acts as a ligand and prevents aggregation of the silver nanoparticles in the hydro-alcoholic gel composition, and
• wherein the α-eleostearic acid-silver nanoparticle complexes exhibit a surface plasmon resonance UV absorbance at 460 nm.