Silver oxide nanoparticles: Synthesis via chemical reduction, characterization, antimicrobial, and cytotoxicity studies

The present work reports the chemical synthesis of silver oxide (AgO) nanoparticles (NPs) using oxalic acid (OA) and tri-sodium citrate (TSC) as reducing, capping, and stabilizing agents. The synthesis was carried by mixing equal volumes of metal precursor and reducing agents at various concentrations (0.02 M, 0.04 M, 0.06 M, 0.08 M, 0.10 M, and 1.00 M). Increase in average particle size was observed at the highest synthesis concentration, whereas decrease in surface charge was observed. The average particle size observed was 30.2 nm to 55.2 nm for O-AgO NPs and 16.6 nm to 44.2 nm for T-AgO NPs at various synthesis concentrations. The surface charge observed was-54.4 mV to -32.0 mV for O-AgO NPs and-48.7 mV to-31.0 mV for T-AgO NPs. AgO NPs synthesized a 1.00 M showed highest zone of inhibition (ZOI, mm) against all the test microbes. In cytotoxicity studies, low to moderate inhibitory effect was observed against MCF-7 and PVA1 cancer cell lines, whereas, none of the AgO NPs showed inhibitory effect against Caco-2 cancer cell line.