Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles from leaf extracts of <i>Parquetina nigrescens</i> and <i>Synedrella nodiflora</i> and their antimicrobial activity

Abstract

In this work, metallic silver nanoparticles were synthesized from leaf extracts of Parquetina nigrescens and Synedrella nodiflora. Silver ion was reduced to metallic silver on treatment of AgNO solution with aqueous extracts of the 3 two plants within 30minutes. The effects of time and the volume of extract to silver salt solution were investigated on the formation of the nanoparticles. The nanoparticles were characterized using the ultraviolet visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Scanning electron microscope, and Fourier transformed infra-red spectroscopy. Antimicrobial activities of the nanoparticles were investigated against ten human pathogens using agar well diffusion method. XRD analysis showed that the synthesized silver nanoparticles were crystalline in nature. The SEM result confirmed that nanoparticles from S. nodiflora appeared spherical in nature while those of P. nigrescens were characterized with different shapes and sizes. The antimicrobial results showed that the nanoparticles have activity against all the tested bacteria but are less active against some isolated fungi.