Biofunctionalized silver nanoparticles synthesized from Passiflora vitifolia leaf extract and evaluation of its antimicrobial, antioxidant and anticancer activities

Abstract

The present study describes the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using Passiflora vitifolia (P. vitifolia) leaf extract as reducing and capping agent. Characterization of the synthesized AgNPs was done with the help of UV-Vis. spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), fourier transform infrared microscopy (FTIR), zeta potential, thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The formation of AgNPs was confirmed by the presence of an absorption peak at 388 nm in UV-Vis. spectrum, poly-dispersed nature and size range from 39.06 to 58.24 nm was displayed by AFM and different functional groups were recognized by FTIR analysis. AgNPs showed stability at − 20.3 mV through zeta potential. SEM and TEM analysis revealed that AgNPs were spherical, poly-dispersed particles with minimum size of 11.61 nm and XRD analysis showed face-centered cubic and crystalline nature. The AgNPs demonstrated a notable antimicrobial efficacy against pathogenic microorganisms and showed a substantial antioxidant activity against DPPH free radicals. Further, AgNPs conveyed potent anticancer activity against murine macrophage (RAW-264.7) cell line with a significant IC50 value of 57.63 µg/mL. The synthesized AgNPs signified good antimicrobial, antioxidant and anticancer activity; hence it has the possibility to be used in various biomedical applications after successful clinical trials.