Synthesis and characterization of starch stabilized Ag nanoparticles. Effect of the crystalline structure of starch.

Abstract

Silver nanoparticles (AgNps) are known for their antimicrobial activity and other physicochemical properties that can be applied in several fields. Most of their synthesis methods include chemical reduction and the use of stabilizing agents such as starch. In recent years, several green methods have been developed such as using carbohydrates as reducing agents. On the other hand, starch is a semi crystalline structure formed by mixtures of the linear glucan, amylose and the branched glucan amylopectin. In this work we studied the effect of the semi crystalline structure on the physicochemical properties (particle size and surface plasmon resonance). Three types of starch were selected (corn, potato and banana) representing the three types of semi crystalline structures of the starch granule (A, B and C). Results showed that banana starch allowed larger particle sizes and broader size distribution, while there was not significant difference between nanoparticles stabilized with A and B type starches.