Facile phyto-mediated synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Chinese winter jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill. cv. Dongzao) extract and their antibacterial/catalytic properties.

The aqueous extract of Chinese winter jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill. cv. Dongzao) was used as reducing and capping agents for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) for the first time. The resulting AgNPs were characterised by UV/Visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, atomic force microscope, transmission electron microscopy, selected area electron diffraction, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The colloidal solution of AgNPs gave a maximum UV-Vis absorbance at 446 nm. The synthesised nanoparticles were almost in the spherical shapes with an average size of 11.5 ± 4. 8 nm. FTIR spectra were applied to identify the functional groups which were possibly responsible for the conversion of metal ions into nanoparticles. The results showed that the prepared AgNPs were coated with the biomolecules in the extract. The biosynthesised AgNPs showed a remarkable catalytic activity at room temperature, and they also showed good antibacterial properties against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus.

Green synthesis of gold nanoparticles using Citrus maxima peel extract and their catalytic/antibacterial activities.

The peel of Citrus maxima (C. maxima) is the primary byproducts during the process of fruit or juice in food industries, and it was always considered as biomass waste for further treatments. In this study, the authors reported a simple and eco-friendly method to synthesise gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) using C. maxima peel extract as reducing and capping agents. The synthesised AuNPs were characterised by UV-visible spectrum, X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The UV-visible spectrum of the AuNPs colloid showed a characteristic peak at 540 nm. The peaks of XRD analysis at (2θ) 38.30°, 44.28°, 64.62°, 77.57° and 81.75° were assigned to (111), (200), (220), (311) and (222) planes of the face-centered cubic (fcc) lattice of gold. The TEM images showed that AuNPs were nearly spherical in shape with the size of 8-25 nm. The FTIR spectrum revealed that some bioactive compounds capped the surface of synthesised AuNPs. The biosynthesised AuNPs performed strong catalytic activity in degradation of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol and good antibacterial activity against both gram negative (Escherichia coli) and gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus) bacterium. The synthesis procedure was proved simple, cost effective and environment friendly.