Biomimetic synthesis of silver nanoparticles by aqueous extract of Syzygium aromaticum

The present investigation deals with the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) by green synthesis that has advantages over conventional methods involving chemical agents associated with environmental toxicity. Green synthesis method involves the use of Syzygium aromaticum extract in the universal solvent namely water. The reaction process was simple and convenient to handle, and was monitored using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis). The results were promising and rapid in the production of silver nanoparticle with a surface plasmon resonance occurring at 430 nm. The formed nanoparticles ranged in dimension between 20 and 149 nm which was almost spherical in shape. EDAX confirmed that the formed nanoparticles are silver as the optical absorption peak was observed approximately at 3 key, which is typical for the absorption of metallic silver nanocrystallites. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.