Miswak based green synthesis of silver nanoparticles: evaluation and comparison of their microbicidal activities with the chemical synthesis

Journal Article

Publication Abstract

Microbicidal potential of silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) can be drastically improved by
improving their solubility or wettability in the aqueous medium. In the present study, we report the
synthesis of both green and chemical synthesis of Ag-NPs, and evaluate the effect of the dispersion
qualities of as-prepared Ag-NPs from both methods on their antimicrobial activities. The green
synthesis of Ag-NPs is carried out by using an aqueous solution of readily available Salvadora persica L.
root extract (RE) as a bioreductant. The formation of highly crystalline Ag-NPs was established by
various analytical and microscopic techniques. The rich phenolic contents of S. persica L. RE (Miswak)
not only promoted the reduction and formation of NPs but they also facilitated the stabilization
of the Ag-NPs, which was established by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis.
Furthermore, the influence of the volume of the RE on the size and the dispersion qualities of the
NPs was also evaluated. It was revealed that with increasing the volume of RE the size of the NPs
was deteriorated, whereas at lower concentrations of RE smaller size and less aggregated NPs were
obtained. During this study, the antimicrobial activities of both chemically and green synthesized
Ag-NPs, along with the aqueous RE of S. persica L., were evaluated against various microorganisms.
It was observed that the green synthesized Ag-NPs exhibit comparable or slightly higher antibacterial
activities than the chemically obtained Ag-NPs.