Microwave-assisted green synthesis of silver nanoparticles and the study on catalytic activity in the degradation of dyes

Biogenic methods are considered to be a safer alternative to usual physical and chemical methods of nanosynthesis due to their environment friendly nature and cost effectiveness. One major shortcoming of biological methods is their characteristically slow nature. In this study, we report a novel microwave-assisted green method for the rapid synthesis of silver nanoparticles. We synthesized silver nanoparticles by microwave irradiation using the leaf extract of Biophytum sensitivum as both the reducing and stabilizing agent. The nanoparticles are characterized by UV–vis, FTIR, XRD and HR-TEM studies. The FTIR spectrum provides sufficient evidences for the involvement of phytochemicals in stabilizing the nanoparticles. The XRD and HR-TEM studies clearly demonstrate the crystalline nature of the nanoparticles. From the TEM images, the silver nanoparticles are found to be almost spherical with an average diameter of 19.06 nm. The synthesized silver nanoparticles have been successfully applied as a catalyst in the degradation of methyl orange and methylene blue by NaBH4.