Phyllanthin-assisted biosynthesis of silver and gold nanoparticles: a novel biological approach

The anisotropic gold and spherical quasi-spherical silver nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by reducing aqueous chloroauric acid (HAuCl4) and silver nitrate (AgNO3) solution with the extract of phyllanthin at room temperature. The rate of reduction of HAuCl4 is greater than the AgNO3 at constant amount of phyllanthin extract. The size and shape of the NPs can be controlled by varying the concentration of phyllanthin extract and thereby to tune their optical properties in the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The case of low concentration of extract with HAuCl4 offers slow reduction rate along with the aid of electron-donating group containing extract leads to formation of hexagonal- or triangular-shaped gold NPs. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis revealed that the shape changes on the gold NPs from hexagonal to spherical particles with increasing initial concentration of phyllanthin extract. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analyses reveal that the interaction between NPs and phyllanthin extract. The cyclic voltammograms of silver and gold NPs confirms the conversion of higher oxidation state to zero oxidation state.