Green Synthesis and Characterization of Gold Nanoparticles (Au-NPs) using Stem Extract of Euphorbia neriifolia L. and Evaluation of Their Antibacterial and Antifungal Potential

Nanotechnology is an emerging science in the world and attracted the interest of researchers due to their vast biological application. In this study, we Synthesized the gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) using the stem extract of Euphorbia neriifolia L. The reduction of gold salt with the extract of E. neriifolia stem resulted in the formation of Au-NPs. The pathway is based on the reduction of AuCl4 by the extract of E. neriifolia stem. This method is simple, efficient, economic and nontoxic. Gold nanoparticles were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, FT-IR Spectroscopy, X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The UV-Vis spectra gave surface plasmon resonance (SPR) at 520-570 for gold nanoparticles. FT-IR spectrum indicated the presence of different functional groups present in the biomolecules capping the nanoparticles. XRD showed face-centered cubic structure of gold nanocrystals with an average size of 22 nm. Gold nanoparticles were mostly spherical in shape and 23-25 nm in size, confirmed through SEM. Further, the synthesized Au-NPs were examined for their antibacterial and antifungal activity which showed better antibacterial and antifungal potential compared to the stem extract.