Microscopic Characterization Based Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles Using Merremia quinquefolia (L.) Hallier f. Leaf Extract: Their Biological Approaches and Degradation of Methylene Blue Dye.

Abstract

The green methods for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) has developed popularity recently due to the low preparation costs, environmental friendliness, and non-toxicity of the precursors. In this study, AgNPs were synthesized using leaf extract from Merremia quinquefolia. Spectroscopic techniques were used for analyzing the functional groups, morphology, crystalline phase, and elemental composition of nanomaterials. The ultraviolet (UV) visible spectrometry absorption spectra of the AgNPs had a surface plasmon resonance band at 459 nm and Fourier transformed infrared spectrum (FTIR) analysis showed the presence of elements groups. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicates the crystalline structure and the energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDAX) analysis shows strong signals for the silver element. Morphological analysis using transmission electron microscope (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses revealed that the AgNPs exhibited spherical shapes with an average size of 14 nm. Furthermore, it was indicated by the Raman spectra vibrational peak at 240 and 470 cm^-1. The disk diffusion method showed that AgNPs were highly effective in inhibition of Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus with a high inhibitory zone (14 ± 0.23 mm). Antioxidant activity, the IC₅₀ values for assays DPPH (145.7 μg/mL) and ABTS (112.09 μg/mL), and albumin denaturation in human red blood cells showed higher anti-inflammatory activity. AgNPs had an IC₅₀ value of 4.62 μg/mL against breast cancer (MCF-7) cells. Methylene blue (MB) degrading studies were used to assess the photocatalytic activity of AgNPs. They are at 240 min observed sunlight, the MB degradation efficiency was 94.89%. Overall, although M. quinquefolia synthesizes AgNPs for environmentally friendly applications, the study is indicated to fully understand the potential involved in treating breast cancer cells.