Synthesis of Stable, Polyshaped Silver, and Gold Nanoparticles Using Leaf Extract of Lonicera japonica L.

ABSTRACT

Silver nanoparticles and gold nanoparticles of various shapes and sizes have applications in medicine, biosensing, and catalysis. Plant-mediated synthesis is preferred due to ecofriendly nature and enhanced quality of the synthesized nanoparticles. As Lonicera japonica plant has several medicinal properties, we explored it here for the first time in the synthesis of silver nanoparticles and gold nanoparticles. Capping of synthesized nanoparticles was found with medicinally important molecules present in the leaf extract of this plant and these molecules could enhance their value for various applications. UV-visible, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, atomic force microscope, zeta particle size analyzer, and Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy has been used for the characterization of both nanoparticles. The leaf extract of L. japonica was found to direct different sized and shaped silver nanoparticles and gold nanoparticles. Silver nanoparticles were 36–72 nm in size and their shape varied from spherical to a few plate-like polyshaped. While gold nanoparticles synthesized were polyshaped nanoplates of 40–92 nm in size. Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy analysis revealed that carbohydrate, polyphenols, and protein molecules were involved in the synthesis and capping of silver nanoparticles and gold nanoparticles.

KEYWORDS:

• Lonicera japonica
• silver nanoparticles
• gold nanoparticles
• polyshaped

Acknowledgments

The Director of the CSIR-IHBT is duly acknowledged for his continuous guidance and encouragement. The authors are thankful to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Government of India for financial support. V. Kumar would like to thank CSIR for providing fellowship as Senior Research Fellow.