Green Synthesis and Characterization of Copper Nanoparticles Using Fortunella margarita Leaves.

Rutaba Amjad,Rabia Rasool,Imran Kazmi,Mohammed M Ghoneim,Sultan Alshehri,Bismillah Mubeen,Syed Sarim Imam,Sami I Alzarea,Muhammad Shahid Nadeem,Inam Ullah,Syed Shahbaz Ali

doi:10.3390/polym13244364

Abstract

The use of biomaterials in the synthesis of nanoparticles is one of the most up-to-date focuses in modern nanotechnologies and nanosciences. More and more research on green methods of producing metal oxide nanoparticles (NP) is taking place, with the goal to overcome the possible dangers of toxic chemicals for a safe and innocuous environment. In this study, we synthesized copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) using Fortunella margarita leaves’ extract, which reflects its novelty in the field of nanosciences. The visual observation of a color change from dark green to bluish green clearly shows the instant and spontaneous formation of CuNPs when the phytochemicals of F. margarita come in contact with Cu+2 ions. The synthesis of CuNPs was carried out at different conditions, including pH, temperature, concentration ratio and time, and were characterized with UV-Vis absorption spectra, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The UV-Vis analysis reveals the surface plasmon resonance property (SPR) of CuNPs, showing a characteristic absorption peak at 679 nm, while SEM reveals the spherical but agglomerated shape of CuNPs of the size within the range of 51.26–56.66 nm.

Highlights

Plants are well-known for their high dietary sources of flavonoids for humans, coronary heart disease prevention, having high free radical scavenging capacity and anticancer activity, and exhibit anti-HIV functions, chemotaxonomic markers and antimicrobial agents [1,2,3]
The synthesized nanoparticles were centrifuged thrice for their collection, purification and were lyophilized to obtain powdered CuNPs. This visual observation of color change explains the formation of small-sized nanoparticles (Figure 3)
The visual observation in the formation of CuNPs was the color change, i.e., from green to bluish green, and the settlement of copper nanoparticles with yellow green supernatant confirms the full bio-reduction of phytochemicals present in the Fortunella margarita leaves (Figure 3)

Summary

Introduction

Plants are well-known for their high dietary sources of flavonoids for humans, coronary heart disease prevention, having high free radical scavenging capacity and anticancer activity, and exhibit anti-HIV functions, chemotaxonomic markers and antimicrobial agents [1,2,3]. They play a key role in the maintenance of the water cycle, balancing the ecosystem, provide oxygen for maintenance of the environment, produce chemicals for drug discovery and provide wood and timber for household and furniture [4]. To select the best plant for green synthesis, one should know about its detoxification and potential in heavy metal accumulation, while reaction conditions should be known, such as pH, temperature, etc. [10]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion