Augmented photocatalytic, antibacterial and antifungal activity of prunosynthetic silver nanoparticles

The present study has demystified the first and single step prunosynthesis of the spherical silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) from aqueous fruit extract of angiospermic plant, Prunus cerasifera, which has remarkable fusion of reducing cum stabilizing bioactive components (phenols, anthocyanins, carotenoids, flavonoids, organic acids, tannins and vitamins). Highly stable prunosynthetic AgNPs with 2.04 nm average crystallite size were synthesized in dark and in sunlight at optimized condition of temperature, time and P. cerasifera concentration. Synthesized nanoparticles were characterized through UV-Vis, FTIR, XRD, TGA, SEM and GCMS. Photocatalytic activity of prunosynthetic AgNPs was evaluated for methyl red, erichrome black, methyl blue, bromophenol blue and bromocresol green via UV-Vis. Degradation was achieved (<15 minutes) and expressed as pseudo-first-order kinetics. Prunosynthetic AgNPs demonstrated broad spectrum dose-dependent inhibition (in vitro) in comparison to standard antimicrobial drugs against pathogenic strains X. citri, P. syringae, A. niger, A. flavus, A. fumigatus, A. terreus, P. chrysogenum, F. solani and L. theobromae. Photocatalytic degradation results show the nanobioremediation potential of prunosynthetic AgNPs in indemnifying the persistent environmental pollutants. From the inherently higher inhibition rates for biomimetic prunosynthetic AgNPs, it is envisioned that these can be commercialized as future "green" nanobactericide and nanofungicide at industrial scale economically from nontoxic phytoconstituents.