Evaluation of Biological Activities of Chemically Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles

Silver nanoparticles were synthesized by the earlier reported methods. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized using ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry (UV/Vis), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). The synthesized materials were also evaluated for their antibacterial activity against Gram positive and Gram negative bacterial strains. TEM micrograph showed the spherical morphology of AgNPs with size range of 40–60 nm. The synthesized nanoparticles showed a strong antimicrobial activity and their effect depends upon bacterial strain as AgNPs exhibited greater inhibition zone for Pseudomonas aeruginosa (19.1 mm) followed by Staphylococcus aureus (14.8 mm) and S. pyogenes (13.6 mm) while the least activity was observed for Salmonella typhi (12.5 mm) at concentration of 5 µg/disc. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of AgNPs against S. aureus was 2.5 µg/disc and less than 2.5 µg/disc for P. aeruginosa. These results suggested that AgNPs can be used as an effective antiseptic agent for infectious control in medical field