Facile fabrication of Ag nanoparticles: An advanced material for antioxidant, infectious therapy and photocatalytic applications

Abstract

• Bio-compatible AgNPs were synthesized via Carissa opaca leaves extract. • The eco-friendly green prepared AgNPs exhibited antibacterial activity against multidrug resistant bacteria. • AgNPs showed excellent antioxidant and photocatalytic activities. • The said nanoparticles exhibited very weak hemolytic activity. In this modern era, the bacterial resistance towards the newly synthesized drugs is also the keen interest area for the researcher to meet the demands of social people. The plant based green synthesis of nanomaterials attracted tremendous research attention over chemical methods due to their simplicity and ecofriendly and cost effectiveness. The present study was carried out to synthesize silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using Carissa opaca leaves extract as a capping and reducing agent. The leaf extract has been significantly improved the production of non-toxic AgNPs, due to the presence of various phytochemical and biomedical compounds that are beneficial for catalytic and biological applications. The structure, morphology, elemental composition and size of as synthesized AgNPs were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDS) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Additionally, the Fourier transmission infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) was used to identify the functional groups, which might be responsible for the synthesis of AgNPs. The sharp band at 448 nm were observed for UV analysis which confirms the formation of AgNPs. Due to high surface area, controllable size and exceptional morphology, the AgNPs has demonstrated its efficient ability to degrade 97% of MB in 50 min under the presence of visible light irradiation. Additionally, AgNPs showed potential antibacterial activity against multidrug resistant Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) and Bacillus subtilis ( B. subtilis ) with inhibition zone of 20(±0.8 mm) and 24(±0.5 mm), respectively. Moreover, the biogenic AgNPs possessed better antioxidant activity to effectively scavenge 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). Interestingly, the cytotoxicity study revealed that AgNPs is nontoxic to ordinary healthy Red blood cells (RBCs). The results suggest that synthesis of AgNPs was a cost effective, green approach and might be a potential candidate for the biomedical and photocatalytic applications.