Maize leaves as a precursor for the synthesis of greened silver nanocomposite and nanoparticles

Abstract

This study is aimed at the synthesis of nanoparticles (NPs) and nanocomposite (NC) using maize leave as precursor. Silver NPs (AgNPs) and AgNCs were synthesized from silver nitrate and maize leave extract using green approach. The maize leave NPs (AgNPs) and the maize leave NCs (AgNCs) were characterized using Fourier Transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersion x-ray (EDX), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area measurement, and dynamic light scattering (DLS) particle size analysis. The phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of tannin, oxalate, and flavonoids in appreciable quantity, which have proven to be a powerful reducing agent that facilitates the reduction of silver ions for the synthesis of silver NPs and silver nano composites. FTIR revealed that all the peaks identified in AgNPs and AgNCs belong to the characteristic bands of reducing compounds such as flavonoid compounds. The SEM-EDX results showed that the peaks observed from 2.9 to 3.1 Kev in the spectra indicate the presence of elemental silver as it is reduced from Ag⁺ to Ag. DLS analysis results showed that the average size and polydispersity index (PdI) of the synthesized AgNPs and AgNCs were 42.30 and 68.29 nm, 0.691 and 0.270, respectively. The single point BET surface area (m²/g) obtained for AgNPs and AgNCs were 223.3 and 209.5, respectively. The results showed maize leave as a potential precursor for the preparation of NPs and NCs.

Keywords:

• Green energy
• maize
• nanoparticle
• nanocomposite
• silver nitrate

Authors’ contributions

Matthew N. Abonyi: Conceptualization, Data curation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing and provided critical feedback on the manuscript draft

Chukwunonso O. Aniagor: Conceptualization, Data curation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing and provided critical feedback on the manuscript draft

Chukwuma Nwanazoba: Investigation, Methodology, data analysis and provided critical feedback on the manuscript draft.

Matthew C. Menkiti: Project administration, Experimentation, Visualization of the original draft and provided critical feedback on the manuscript draft

All the aforementioned authors have read and approved the final manuscript draft.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest and there exist no relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

Availability of data and material

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this article.

Additional information

Funding

There was no external funding for the study.