Bioinspired synthesis of silver nanoparticles

Abstract

Disease-causing microbes that have become resistant to drug therapy are an increasing public health problem. Therefore there is an urgent need to develop new bactericides. Silver nanoparticles are the metal of choice as they hold the promise to kill microbes effectively. Silver nanoparticles take advantages of the oligodynamic effect that silver has on microbes. In this work we have synthesized silver nanoparticles using environmentally benign material like Mentha Piperita leaf extract. In the process of synthesizing silver nanoparticles we observed a rapid reduction of silver ions leading to the formation of stable crystalline silver nanoparticles in the solution. Transmission electron microscopy and UV-Vis Spectroscopy analysis of these particles shows that they are ranged in size from 5 nm to 30 nm.