Characterization of Silver/Bovine Serum Albumin (Ag/BSA) nanoparticles structure: Morphological, compositional, and interaction studies

The primary objective of this study was to elucidate the structure of protein conjugated silver nanoparticles prepared by chemical reduction of AgNO3 and bovine serum albumin (BSA) mixture. The role of BSA in the formation of Ag/BSA nanoparticles was established by UV–Vis Spectroscopy. The association of silver with BSA in Ag/BSA nanoparticles was studied by the decrease in the intensity of absorbance peak at 278 nm in UV–Vis spectra and shift in cathodic peak potential in cyclic voltammogram. The molar ratio of silver to BSA in the Ag/BSA nanoparticles is 27:1, as ascertained by thermogravimetric analysis and atomic absorption spectrometry. Based on atomic force microscopy, dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements, the average particle size of nanoparticles was found to be range of 11–15 nm. TEM image showed that the nanoparticle has two distinct phases and selected area electron diffraction pattern of nanoparticles indicated that the silver phase in Ag/BSA is fcc. X-ray photo electron spectroscopy measurements of freshly prepared and argon sputtered nanoparticles provided evidence that the outer and inner region of nanoparticles are mainly composed of BSA and silver respectively. The structural and compositional findings of nanoparticles could have a strong bearing on the bioavailability and antimicrobial activity of nanoparticles.