Momordica charantia fruit mediated green synthesis of silver nanoparticles

Abstract

The synthesis of nanoparticles (NP) is in the spotlight of modern nanotechnology. In recent years, the development of competent green chemistry methods for the synthesis of metal NPs has become the main focus of research. The biological synthesis of NPs using plant extract is currently under exploitation. For the first time, in this paper, we report the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) by reduction of silver nitrate, using fruit extracts of Momordica charantia Linn (bitter melon), a commonly found plant in southeast Asia. The reaction process for the synthesis of AgNPs is simple, cost-effective, novel, rapid and an eco-friendly route using the fruit extracts of M. charantia plant, which acts simultaneously as a reducing and stabilizing agent at room temperature. The formation of the AgNPs was confirmed by surface Plasmon spectra using UV-Vis spectrophotometer and an absorbance peak at 440 nm. To optimize the biosynthesis of AgNPs, the effect of the process variables such as contact time, silver ion concentration and fruit extract quantity were also investigated. The prepared NPs properties were characterized by UV-Vis spectrophotometer, Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and TEM analysis.