Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Gymnema sylvestre leaf extract and evaluation of its antibacterial activity

Abstract

In this work, an eco-friendly and cost effective green synthesis has been employed to the fabrication of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) from the non-toxic aqueous Gymnema sylvestre leaf extract as a reducing agent. The surface plasmon resonance band at 442 nm in the UV–visible absorption spectra strongly affirms the development of Ag NPs in the aqueous medium. X-ray diffraction spectra confirm that the synthesized samples have face centre cubic structure of Ag NPs and the EDX analysis also supports the formation of Ag metal NPs by the energy peak at 3 keV. TEM study discloses that most of the synthesized Ag NPs are spherical in shape and the average particle size falls in the ranging between 20 and 30 nm. Gymnema sylvestre plant extracts biomolecules involved in the reduction process was determined by FT-IR analysis. The synthesized Ag NPs showed good antibacterial activity on the growth of both Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli.