Silver Nanoparticles Prepared From Herbal Extract Of Terminalia Bellerica For Selective Detection Of Mercury Ions

¹Nano-Bio Materials and Sensors Laboratory, PSG Institute of Advanced Studies, Coimbatore 641004, Tamilnadu, India

²National Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, University of Madras, Guindy Campus, Chennai 600025, Tamilnadu, India                             

Adv. Mater. Lett., 2016, 7 (12), pp 1021-1028

DOI: 10.5185/amlett.2016.6426

Publication Date (Web): Oct 12, 2016

Copyright © IAAM-VBRI Press

E-mail:dravishankaran@hotmail.com

Abstract

In this work, we have investigated the uses of herbal extract of Terminalia bellerica (T.bellerica) as an efficient reducing as well as capping agent for reliable green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) at room temperature. HR-TEM results of AgNPs confirmed that, the nanoparticles are spherical in shape with an average diameter of ~30 ± 6 nm.  XRD shows that, AgNPs exhibits the face centered cubic (FCC) structure. AgNPs utilized as a nanosensor probe for detection of mercury ions (Hg²⁺). AgNPs showed a color change from brownish yellow to colorless on exposed to Hg²⁺ due to the redox reaction of mercury and silver. This sensor probe showed a lower limit of detection of 0.3 ± 0.005 µM. Selectivity of the sensor has been evaluated towards other environmentally heavy metal ions and found that, this sensor is highly selective to Hg²⁺. AgNPs loaded poly (vinylalcohol) (PVA) films and nanofibers were fabricated by solvent casting and electrospinning methods, respectively. AgNPs loaded PVA films and nanofibers were tested for anti-bacterial studies against E. coli and B. subtils. The results indicate that the green synthesized AgNPs possess high microbial activity towards E.coli. These AgNPs based functional materials have great potential for application in sensors, anti-microbial coatings, wound dressing and smart textiles.

Keywords

Green synthesis, AgNPs, terminalia bellerica, Hg²⁺ sensor, anti-bacterial activity.