Ovalbumin mediated eco-friendly synthesis of silver oxide nanoparticles and their antibacterial and antifungal studies

This work describes synthesizes of silver-oxide (Ag2O) nanoparticles (NPs) using ovalbumin. The presence of different biological components in ovalbumin may act as template as well as stabilizing agent for synthesis of Ag2O NPs via a simple, cost effective, non-toxic, and environmentally friendly green synthesis method which has the added advantage of having enhanced limited reaction times and better command over size and shape. The ovalbumin-water homogeneous solution is highly basic, and did not require any utilization of base to increase the pH of solution where hydrolysis occurred. The synthesized Ag2O NPs were investigated by powder XRD, FE-SEM, TEM and FT-IR techniques and also tested for biological evaluations. The FE-SEM and TEM images manifested the spherical shape of prepared Ag2O NPs with diameter range 10-30 nm. The powder XRD pattern studies confirmed the formation of Ag2O NPs and the average crystallite size was found to be 20 nm. The FT-IR spectrum of prepared nanoparticles explicated the Ag and O metal oxide bonds. The synthesized Ag2O NPs exhibited antibacterial and antifungal activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial as well as some fungal strains by the disc diffusion method and encouraging results reported here exhibited the potent nature of Ag2O NPs on bacteria and fungi. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Multifunctional Nanomaterials.