Vikas Sarsar, Manjit K. Selwal and Krishan K. Selwal
Department of Biotechnology, DCR University of Science and Technology, Murthal, (Haryana), India
Silver nanoparticles have various applications in the field of biotechnology and medicine like water purification, biological sensors, plasmonics, optoelectronics and more recently in detection of various colon cancers etc. So the present investigation is focused on the optimization of process conditions for AgNPs synthesis by using Aspergillus niger MA extract as reducing agent and evaluation of their antibacterial efficacy. Different parameters such as concentration of the silver precursors, reducing agent, time, pH, and temperature of synthesis were optimized. The optimum values of these process parameters were determined using Surface Plasmon Methodology. X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern peaks at 2θ confirmed crystalline nature of nanoparticles whereas Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis showed that carbonyl and primary amines could be responsible for stabilization of the AgNPs in solution. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques exhibited morphological structure of AgNPs of size 3-20 nm. The synthesized AgNPs displayed considerable antimicrobial activity against various pathogenic bacterial strains like B. cereus and A. hydrophila. In conclusion, optimization process played a pivotal role in the AgNPs synthesis and future work should be carried on detection of various pathological conditions by exploiting AgNPs.
Keywords: AgNPs, Antimicrobial Activity, FTIR, Silver Precursor, TEM, XRD.