Determination of Antimicrobial and Toxic Metal Removal Activities of Plant-Based Synthesized (Capsicum annuum L. Leaves), Ecofriendly, Gold Nanomaterials

Nanoparticles are valuable materials with widespread use. The fact that these materials are obtained by biological resources with an environmentally friendly method contributes to the development of studies in this field. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) from waste vegetable sources (green leaves of Capsicum annum L.) are economically and easily synthesized. The obtained particles are characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy (UV-vis), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. The antimicrobial activity of the particles on the pathogenic microorganisms Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213, Bacillus subtilis bacteria, and Candida albicans yeast are found to have a significant suppressive effect. The removal activities of eight toxic metals (Pd, Cd, Fe, Ni, Co, Mn, Zn, Pb) in Diyarbakir drinking water and artificially prepared water within different pHs are investigated. Gold nanoparticles synthesized from Capsicum annuum L. leaves are found to be effective in toxic metal removal in water samples.