Effect of operational parameters, characterization and antibacterial studies of green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Tithonia diversifolia

BACKGROUND: There is a growing interest in the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using plant extract because the technique is cost effective, eco-friendly and environmentally benign. This is phasing out the use of toxic and hazardous chemical earlier reported. Tithonia diversifolia is a wild sunflower that grows widely in the western part of Nigeria with a proven medicinal benefit. However, several studies carried out have left doubts on the basic operational parameters needed for the green synthesis of AgNPs. The objective of this work was to carry out green synthesis of AgNPs using T. diversifolia extract via an eco-friendly route through optimization of various operational parameters, characterization, and antimicrobial studies. METHOD: Green synthesis of TD-AgNPs was done via bottom-up approach through wet chemistry technique using environmentally benign T. diversifolia plant extract as both reducing and stabilizing agent. Phytochemical Screening of the TD plant extract was carried out. Experimental optimization of various operational parameters—reaction time, concentration, volume ratio, and temperature was investigated. TD-AgNPs were characterized by UV–Vis spectroscopy, FTIR Spectroscopy, SEM/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Antimicrobial studies against multi drug resistant microorganisms (MDRM) were studied using the agar well diffusion method. RESULTS: This study reveals the importance of various operational parameters in the synthesis of TD-AgNPs. Excellent surface plasmon resonance peaks (SPR) were obtained at optimum experimental factors of 90 min reaction time under room temperature at 0.001M concentration with the volume ratio of 1:9 (TD extract:Ag ion solution). The synthesis was monitored using UV–Vis and maximum wavelength obtained at 430 nm was due to SPR. The morphology and elemental constituents obtained by TEM, SEM, and EDX results revealed a spherical shape of AgNPs with prominent peak of Ag at 3.0 kV in EDX spectrum. The crystallinity nature was confirmed by XRD studies. FTIR analysis proved presence of biomolecules functioning as reducing, stabilizing, and capping agents. These biomolecules were confirmed to be flavonoid, triterpenes, and saponin from phytochemical screening. The antimicrobial studies of TD-AgNPs were tested against MDRM—Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Salmonella enterica, and Bacillus subtilis. DISCUSSION: The variation of reaction time, temperature, concentration, and volume ratio played substantive and fundamental roles in the synthesis of TD-AgNPs. A good dispersion of small spherical size between 10 and 26 nm was confirmed by TEM and SEM. A dual action mechanism of anti-microbial effects was provided by TD-AgNPs which are bactericidal and membrane-disruption. Based on the antimicrobial activity, the synthesized TD-AgNPs could find good application in medicine, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and food science.