Green Synthesis and Structural Characterization of Silver Nanoparticles Synthesized Using the Pod Extract of Clitoria Ternatea and Its Application towards Dye Degradation

Abstract

Silver nanoparticles (SNPs) have multifaceted applications ranging from nanomedicine to nanoremediation. For the first time, silver nanoparticles were synthesized using the aqueous extract of Clitoria ternatea pods as reducing agent. The formation of SNPs was first confirmed by visual inspection and then by a characteristic peak at 418nm observed in UV-Vis spectrum. Spherical SNPs with few agglomerations were noticed in SEM image. EDS spectrum showed a strong signal for elemental silver at 3keV. The crystalline nature of the SNPs was confirmed from a sharp peak obtained in XRD at 38.58°. The involvement of biomolecules in the formation and capping processes was ascertained by specific bands such as (cm-1) 3595, 1728, 2924, 1381, 1620 and 1049 in FTIR spectra. The average hydrodynamic size of the SNPs was 62.51 nm. A low PDI value of 0.264 was observed which validated the monodispersity of the SNPs. The stability of the SNPs was corroborated by the zeta potential value of – 24.6 mV. In addition, an important environmental application – degradation of methylene blue dye has been demonstrated in which SNPs acted as nanocatalysts. The first order kinetic constant for the degradation has been calculated as 0.1448 min–1. This outcome may play an excellent role in the environmental remediation applications of the newly synthesized materials.