Phytofabrication of silver nanoparticles assisted by fruit of Nopal and its free radical scavenging property

Development of biologically inspired experimental processes for the synthesis of nanoparticles is evolvinginto an important branch of nanotechnology. An eco-friendly synthesis of inorganic nanoparticle is afast growing research in the limb of nanotechnology [1-3]. In the present study, it is reported that Nopal fruit mediated synthesis of silver nanoparticles by the reduction of Ag ions. The color change in reaction mixture (pale yellow to dark brown)was observed during synthesis process. Biosynthesized silver nanoparticles showed surface Plasmonresonance at around 450 nm.The morphology and structure of synthesized silver nanoparticles were characterized on Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) equipped with a Thermo EDAX attachment, TransmissionElectron Microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), (FT-IR), Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) whichreveals that the Ag nanoparticles are spherical and the average particle size is 17.96 nm.Crystalline natureof the nanoparticles is confirmed from the XRD pattern. FTIR spectrum indicates that the biomoleculesof carboxyl, amine and hydroxyl functional groups involved in the reduction of silver nanoparticles. The biosynthesized silver nanoparticles displayed considerable antioxidant capacity.