Biosynthesis of Silver Nanoparticles Utilizing Leaf Extract of Trigonella foenum-graecum L. for Catalytic Dyes Degradation and Colorimetric Sensing of Fe(3+)/Hg(2+)

The aqueous Trigonella foenum-graecum L. leaf extract belonging to variety HM 444 was used as reducing agent for silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) synthesis. UV–Visible spectroscopy, Particle size analyser (PSA), Field emission scanning electron microscopy coupled to energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (FESEM-EDX) and High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) were used to characterize AgNPs. Selected area electron diffraction (SAED) confirmed the formation of metallic Ag. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) was done to find out the possible phytochemicals responsible for stabilization and capping of the AgNPs. The produced AgNPs had an average particle size of 21 nm, were spherical in shape, and monodispersed. It showed catalytic degradation of Methylene blue (96.57%, 0.1665 ± 0.03 min(−1)), Methyl orange (71.45%, 0.1054 ± 0.002 min(−1)), and Rhodamine B (92.72%, 0.2004 ± 0.01 min(−1)). The produced AgNPs were excellent solid bio-based sensors because they were very sensitive to Hg(2+) and Fe(3+) metal ions with a detection limit of 11.17 µM and 195.24 µM, respectively. From the results obtained, it was suggested that aqueous leaf extract demonstrated a versatile and cost-effective method and should be utilized in future as green technology for the fabrication of nanoparticles.