Stem Bark-Mediated Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles from Pyrus pashia: Characterization, Antioxidant, and Antibacterial Properties

Abstract

The investigation of using medicinal plants for the production and application of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) has attracted growing research interest. In this study, AgNPs are synthesized from the stem barks of the Pyrus pashia medicinal plant using a biosynthetic strategy. The reaction conditions were optimized under ambient conditions, including concentration, temperature, time, and pH, and various techniques were employed, such as UV-visible, FTIR, XRD, FESEM, and TEM, to characterize the synthesized AgNPs. The AgNPs produced through this biosynthesis method were found to be spherical and polydispersed, with an average size of 23.92 ± 7.04 nm. The synthesized AgNPs demonstrated an enhanced DPPH free radical scavenging capacity compared to the aqueous extract, with IC50 values of 10.67 ± 0.05 µg/mL and 13.66 ± 0.35 µg/mL, respectively. In the agar well diffusion method, the synthesized AgNPs showed higher antibacterial activity than that of the extract against Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923), Enterococcus faecalis (ATCC 29212), Salmonella typhi (ATCC 14028), and Shigella sonnei (ATCC 25931). Based on these findings, the study suggests that green synthesized AgNPs from P. pashia could be used for biomedical applications.