The Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles from Avena fatua Extract: Antifungal Activity against Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici

Using plant extracts as eco-friendly reducing and stabilizing agents for the synthesis of nanoparticles has gained significant attention in recent years. The current study explores the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using the Avena fatua extract and evaluates their antifungal activity against Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici (Fol), a fungal plant pathogen. A green and sustainable approach was adopted to synthesize silver nanoparticles before these nanoparticles were employed for anti-fungal activity. The primary indication that AgNPs had formed was performed using UV-vis spectroscopy, where a strong peak at 425 nm indicated the effective formation of these nanoparticles. The indication of important functional groups acting as reducing and stabilizing agents was conducted using the FTIR study. Additionally, morphological studies were executed via SEM and AFM, which assisted with more effectively analyzing AgNPs. Crystalline behavior and size were estimated using powder XRD, and it was found that AgNPs were highly crystalline, and their size ranged from 5 to 25 nm. Synthesized AgNPs exhibited significant antifungal activity against Fol at a concentration of 40 ppm. Furthermore, the inhibitory index confirmed a positive correlation between increasing AgNPs concentration and exposure duration. This study suggests that the combined phytochemical mycotoxic effect of the plant extract and the smaller size of synthesized AgNPs were responsible for the highest penetrating power to inhibit Fol growth. Moreover, this study highlights the potential of using plant extracts as reducing and capping agents for the green synthesis of AgNPs with antifungal properties. The study concludes that A. fatua extract can synthesize antifungal AgNPs as a sustainable approach with robust antifungal efficacy against Fol, underscoring their promising potential for integration into plant protection strategies

Electrical and Dielectric Characterization of Bi–La Ion-Substituted Barium Hexaferrites

BaLa (x) Bi (x) Fe12-2xO19 (0.0 ae x ae 0.5) hexaferrites were produced by solid-state synthesis route, and the effect of Bi3+ and La3+ substitutions on electrical and dielectric properties of barium hexaferrite material were investigated. It is noticed that ac conductivity of barium (BaM) increases slightly with ionic substitutions of both La3+ and Bi3+ and then decreases. Ac conductivity is increased with increasing frequency at lower temperatures then remains constant for higher temperatures. This type of conductivity attitude could be originated from the indication of both electronics and polaron hopping mechanisms. The dielectric properties of BaLa (x) Bi (x) Fe12-2xO19 (0.0 ae x ae 0.5) hexaferrites represent a very interesting tunability as functions of frequency, temperature, and Bi3+ and La3+ ions

Electrical and Dielectric Properties of Y3+-Substituted Barium Hexaferrites

In this study, Y3+ ion-substituted M-type barium hexaferrites (BaM; BaFe12O19) were fabricated via facile ceramic route. As-prepared powders were characterized by X-ray powder diffractometry (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and impedance spectroscopy. XRD (Rietveld) analyses confirmed the presence of a single characterization of all samples (except x = 0.0 and 0.1 samples). The crystallite sizes of products are found in the range of 47.2-63.2 nm. Spectral analysis (FT-IR) also presented the formation of spinel structure for all products. The ac conductivity of the substituted samples was found to initially decrease slightly with increase in Y3+ compared with unsubstituted, and then variation tendency changes at the medium substitution ranges are observed with a different attitude against temperature. In the end, the lower conductivity for high substitutions is recorded and increases as functions of frequency while it also increases with the elevation of temperature. It was observed that ac conductivities of products increased by increasing frequency which indicate that observed ac conductivity is due to both electronic and polaron hopping mechanism