Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles, Their Characterization, Application and Antibacterial Activity

Florence Okafor, Afef Janen, Tatiana Kukhtareva, Vernessa Edwards and Michael Curley
Additional contact information
Florence Okafor: Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Alabama A&M University, P.O. Box 1672, Normal, AL 35762, USA
Afef Janen: Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Alabama A&M University, P.O. Box 1672, Normal, AL 35762, USA
Tatiana Kukhtareva: Department of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, Alabama A&M University, 4900 Meridian Street N., Normal, AL 35762, USA
Vernessa Edwards: Department of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, Alabama A&M University, 4900 Meridian Street N., Normal, AL 35762, USA
Michael Curley: Department of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, Alabama A&M University, 4900 Meridian Street N., Normal, AL 35762, USA

IJERPH, 2013, vol. 10, issue 10, 1-18

Abstract: Our research focused on the production, characterization and application of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), which can be utilized in biomedical research and environmental cleaning applications. We used an environmentally friendly extracellular biosynthetic technique for the production of the AgNPs. The reducing agents used to produce the nanoparticles were from aqueous extracts made from the leaves of various plants . Synthesis of colloidal AgNPs was monitored by UV-Visible spectroscopy. The UV-Visible spectrum showed a peak between 417 and 425 nm corresponding to the Plasmon absorbance of the AgNPs. The characterization of the AgNPs such as their size and shape was performed by Atom Force Microscopy (AFM), and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) techniques which indicated a size range of 3 to 15 nm. The anti-bacterial activity of AgNPs was investigated at concentrations between 2 and 15 ppm for Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Staphylococcus aureus and Kocuria rhizophila , Bacillus thuringiensis (Gram-positive organisms); Escherichia coli , Pseudomonas aeruginosa , and Salmonella typhimurium (Gram-negative organisms) were exposed to AgNPs using Bioscreen C. The results indicated that AgNPs at a concentration of 2 and 4 ppm, inhibited bacterial growth. Preliminary evaluation of cytotoxicity of biosynthesized silver nanoparticles was accomplished using the InQ™ Cell Research System instrument with HEK 293 cells. This investigation demonstrated that silver nanoparticles with a concentration of 2 ppm and 4 ppm were not toxic for human healthy cells, but inhibit bacterial growth.

Keywords: biosynthesis; silver nanoparticles; plant extracts; cytotoxicity bacteria; antibacterial activity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/10/5221/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/10/10/5221/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:10:y:2013:i:10:p:5221-5238:d:29699

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().