Synthesis, Characterization, and Antibacterial Assessment (Synergism) of Silver Nanoparticles Prepared with Stem Bark Extract of Sterculia diversifolia

Abstract

Microbial infections present a challenging arena to the modern world. Traditional antibiotics are now familiar to microbes. To counter this microbial familiarity, a novel approach is a nanoparticle-based drug delivery system that exhibits promising results and overcomes these problems. This study was conducted to explore the efficacy of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) by utilizing stem bark extract of Sterculia diversifolia followed by physicochemical characterization including ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry (UV-Vis), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The UV-Vis characteristic spectral peak was recorded at 430 nm. XRD confirmed the crystalline structure of AgNPs, while FTIR confirmed phytochemicals in their capping, stabilization, and synthesis of AgNPs. SEM devised the particle size range of 100 nm at 30,000× magnification. TEM showed nanoparticles morphology, which is spherical in nature, while obtained nanoparticles were 100 nm in size. The antibacterial activity of synthesized NPs showed significant action against S. aureus and P. aeruginosa. Similarly, crude extract and n-hexane fraction showed maximum zone of inhibition. Promising results suggest that stem bark extract AgNPs of Sterculia diversifolia can be studied further for microbial mechanisms as well as formulation-based studies.