Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using <em>Coccinia grandis</em> fruit extract and its application toward the reduction of toxic nitro compounds

Abstract

Silver nanoparticles have been synthesized using <em>Coccinia grandis</em> fruit extract without using any surfactant or external energy. The phytochemical present in the fruit acts as a reducing agent and reduced the metal ions (Ag⁺) into metallic form (Ag⁰) and help in the formation of silver nanoparticles. For further confirmation, synthesized silver nanoparticles are well characterized by using UV-Visible spectroscopy, TEM, XRD, FT-IR and EDX techniques. The catalytic activities of nanoparticles in the reduction of toxic nitro compounds such as para nitrophenol and para nitroaniline has also been investigated. It is observed that silver nanoparticles show excellent catalytic activity towards the reduction of toxic nitro compounds. This is for the first time, the synthesis of silver nanoparticle using <em>Coccinia grandis</em> fruit extract has been reported.