Optimization of myco-synthesized silver nanoparticles by response surface methodology employing Box-Behnken design

Abstract

The objective of current study was to optimize the average diameter size of biosynthesized Silver Nanoparticles (AgNPs) induced by Penicillium citrinum. The AgNPs were prepared with a spherical shape and good monodispersity, determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS). Besides, response surface methodology (RSM) was conducted to optimize the average diameter size of AgNPs by employing Box-Behnken design (BBD). The effective factors in this process were concentration of AgNO₃ (mM) (X₁), pH of solution (X₂), temperature of shaker incubator (°C) (X₃), rate of shaker incubator (rpm) (X₄) and time of incubation (hour) (X₅). The R² (0.8894) value of the obtained model indicated a good correlation between the observed and predicted values. Overall, it could be concluded that multivariate analysis facilitated to find out the optimum conditions for the biosynthesis of AgNPs induced by P. citrinum with the reduced time and cost.

Keywords:

• Optimization
• silver nanoparticles
• Penicillium citrinum; response surface methodology
• Box-Behnken design

Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by Traditional Medicine & Materia Medica Research Center (TMRC) Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.