Feather Protein Hydrolysate mediated synthesis of silver nanoparticles and assessment of anti-microbial potential of silver nanoparticle-treated silk cloth

Abstract

In this study, we have performed green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Feather Protein Hydrolysate (FPH) formed by degradation of chicken feathers by Stenotrophomonas maltophilia KB13. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by techniques such as, UV-Vis Spectroscopy, Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) respectively. TEM and SEM-EDS confirmed the formation of silver nanoparticles. The size range was found to be 20-40 nm. FTIR analysis suggested the role of amino acids and proteins present in FPH during the synthesis process. XRD analysis of silver nanoparticles confirmed the formation metallic silver nanoparticles with the average size of 29.957 nm. The antimicrobial activity of nanoparticles was also studied on clinically relevant pathogenic bacteria. These nanoparticles exhibited excellent anti-microbial properties. The antimicrobial property of silver nanoparticles was employed for the rescue of silk cloth from microbial deterioration.