Biosynthesis, characterization and antimicrobial potency of silver nanoparticles fabricated from phymatode scolopendria (burm. f.) ching

Plants that serve medicinal purposes contain phytoconstituents. These phytoconstituents are responsible for therapeutic uses of them. Nanomedicinal focus has majorly been on higher plants. Recently, nanomedicine have gained global attention in medicine. In this study, a cost effective and eco-friendly technique for biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles using 1mM, 2mM and 5mM AgNO3 solutions with the extract of a fern Phymatode scolopendria as reducing and capping agent was described. The silver nanoparticles were characterized using UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR), Energy Dispersive Spectrum (EDS), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and XRD. The biosynthesized nanoparticles also were subjected to antimicrobial activities and compared with standard antibiotics. The result showed that the fabricated AgNPs as shown by the TEM image are spherical nano particles with an average size of 12.41nm. The XRD result shows that the AgNPs are considerably crystalline and polydispersed. The synthesized AgNPs exhibited good antibacterial activity against the bacterial pathogens Salmonella typhi, Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli but showed least activity against the fungus Candida albicans, hence, Phymatode AgNPs are good antimicrobial agents.