Insecticidal Activity and Physicochemical Characterization of Nanoparticles from Foliar Extract of Capsicum chinense

This work was carried out to evaluate the insecticidal effect of mono, bi and trimetallic nanoparticles (NPs) from leaf extract of habanero pepper ( Capsicum chinense Jacq.) on the red fl our beetle ( Tribolium castaneum herbst.) and cotton mealybug ( Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley). The results showed that Cu NPs, Cu/Mn NPs and Zn/Cu NPs had high insecticidal effect against T. castaneum (63% – 80% mortality after 96 h). The Cu NPs and Zn/Cu NPs showed also insecticidal effect against P. solenopsis , but to a lesser extent (20% – 28% after 96 h). With regards to the physicochemical characterization, Cu NPs had a zeta potential of 21.1 mV, whereas Cu/Mn NPs and Zn/Cu NPs exhibited zeta potentials of 200 mV. The polydispersity index (PDI) values for Cu NPs, Cu/Mn NPs, and Zn/ Cu NPs were 10.1, 29.16, and 14.34, respectively. The TF-IR spectra of the NPs varied from 600 to 4000 cm − 1 . The EDX weight percentages showed the presence of Cu (0.29% – 2.4%), Mn (1.4%), and Zn (2.6%) in Cu/Mn NPs and Zn/Cu NPs, respectively.