A Facile and Green Biosynthesis of Silver Nanostructures by Aqueous Extract of <i>Suaeda Acuminata</i> after Microwave Assisted Extraction

Abstract

In the present study, a simple, efficient and fast synthetic strategy was reported for the green biosynthesis of silver nanostructures (<em>i.e.</em> nanoroads and nanoparticles) by the extract of <em>Suaeda Acuminata</em> plant, without any catalyst, template or surfactant. Aqueous extracts were obtained by maceration and microwave assisted extraction (MAE) methods. In MAE procedure, the effect of microwave power on the extracted compounds was studied at 90, 270 and 450 W. Colloidal nano-scaled silver samples were synthesized by reacting aqueous silver nitrate with <em>Suaeda Acuminata</em> leaf extract at non-photomediated conditions. Comparative characterizations of the prepared Ag nanostructures were carried out by different techniques including UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and FT-IR spectroscopy. The SEM images showed that it can be synthesized Ag nanoroads and nanoparticles with the average size of 132 nm and 73 nm, by maceration and MAE methods, respectively. According to UV-Vis absorption spectra, a broad absorption peak around 400 nm was observed for all prepared Ag nanostructure samples synthesized by maceration and MAE methods, at different reaction times and irradiation microwave powers. The band can be corresponded to the plasmon absorbance of nano-scaled silver samples.