Fungal mediated biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles, characterization and antimicrobial activity

Microbial assisted biosynthesis of nanoparticles is a rapidly progressing area of nanobiotechnology. In this paper Aspergillus niger assisted extracellular synthesis of silver nanoparticles is reported. The silver nanoparticles were characterized by UV-vis spectrophotometry, TEM, EDX and FTIR. TEM studies showed the size of the silver nanoparticles to be in the range of 3-30 nm. The probable mechanism for the extracellular synthesis of silver nanoparticles by Aspergillus niger was investigated. The nanoparticles showed antimicrobial activity against fungal and bacterial strains. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.