Synthesis of silver nanoparticles using aqueous extracts of Pterodon emarginatus leaves collected in the summer and winter seasons

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the potential of silver nanoparticle synthesis using extracts from the leaves of Pterodon emarginatus (white sucupira) collected during the summer and winter seasons. Leaves were collected for the production of aqueous extracts, which were added to the aqueous solutions of silver nitrate leading to a final concentration of 1 mM. The reactions were incubated at 75 degrees C for 150 min and monitored every 30 min by absorption spectroscopy at 425 nm. The samples were complementarily characterized by dynamic light scattering, zeta potential, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analyses. Both extracts (summer and winter) exhibited a satisfactory reduction of silver ions, capable of inducing the formation of AgNPPe with considerable colloidal stability. The seasons of leaf collection interfered with the synthesis and yield of the AgNPPe, and also with their hydrodynamic diameters and zeta potentials, but the particles showed similar dry sizes (height and diameter), molecular profiles, and crystallinity patterns of the atoms. In sum, the results indicated that some AgNPPe parameters can be tunable by seasonal aspects of the plants and, therefore, such nanomaterials are propitious aiming future evaluation of their applications in several areas.