Centella asiatica phenolic extract-mediated bio-fabrication of silver nanoparticles: characterization, reduction of industrially relevant dyes in water and antimicrobial activities against foodborne pathogens

In this article, we have reported an environmentally benign and cost-effective method for the synthesis of monodispersed silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), based on Centella asiatica phenolic extracts (CAPE). The presence of phenolics was confirmed by ultra high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-ESI-qTOF-MS). Colloidal AgNPs synthesized under different concentrations of silver nitrate were monitored with a UV-vis spectrophotometer. Maximum absorption spectra intensity was found to range between 430–440 nm, during a synthesis time of 90 minutes at room temperature. The as-synthesized CAPE-AgNPs, was subjected to various instrumental characterizations such as, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS) and zeta potential. At the optimized synthesis conditions, spherical and monodispersed CAPE-AgNPs were obtained, with an absorption maximum at 430 nm. The crystalline CAPE-AgNPs had a face-centered-cubic (fcc) crystallographic structure, possessing average sizes estimated from TEM, to be between 20–25 nm diameter, a hydrodynamic diameter from DLS of about 90 nm and a zeta potential value of −28.7 mV. FTIR results validated the presence of phenolics on the surfaces of CAPE-AgNPs. The anti-microbial capacity of CAPE-AgNPs was further demonstrated on different pathogenic bacterial strains with satisfactory performances. As a result of the high surface area to volume ratio of CAPE-AgNPs, it was investigated as a catalyst towards the reduction of prominent environmental pollutants, 4 nitrophenol (4 NP), Congo red (CR) and methylene blue (MB). Pseudo first order kinetics were obtained with rate constants of 3.9 × 10(−3) s(−1) for 4 NP, 54.7 × 10(−3) min(−1) for MB and 5.6 × 10(−3) s(−1) for CR. The catalytic performance and antimicrobial activities of CAPE-AgNPs suggest its potential application in wastewater treatment and control of pathogenic microbes.