Facile Synthesis of Graphene–Metal Nanocomposites with Tephrosia Purpurea for Anticancer and Antimicrobial Activity

Abstract

The research is focused on screening various bioactive extracts from Tephrosia purpurea plant leaf for the onward synthesis of nanomaterial and formation of Grephene-Ag nanocomposite for their biological applications. The aerial parts of this plant are comprised of primary and secondary metabolites. Its latex contains many important compounds such as Phenolics, Flavonides, and Terpenes, etc. Tephrosia purpurea is used as a traditional medicine to cure different problems of the digestive and respiratory tract. The aerial parts of this plant show immense antifungal and antimicrobial pursuits. Silver nanoparticles were synthesized from methanol extract of aerial parts of the Tephrosia Purpurea. These nanoparticles were reacted with lab synthesized Graphene to form Plant-Silver-Graphene nanocomposites. The characterization of plant extract, extract-mediated Ag-nanoparticles, and graphene-metal nanocomposites was carried out by different techniques like FTIR, UV, EDX & SEM. FTIR & UV spectra peaks were found in the ranges already reported. EDX analysis shows the percentage of the elements matching the reported data. SEM shows similar ranges of nanoparticle sizes as found in the research papers. Moreover, anticancer activities of plant-Ag-graphene nanocomposites were done & comparison was made with parent materials. The results were remarkable as plant-Ag-graphene nanocomposites showed better anticancer activities than the nanoparticles and plant extract.