Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles Using Natural Extracts with Proven Antioxidant Activity

Natural extracts are a rich source of biomolecules that are useful not only as antioxidant drugs or diet supplements but also as complex reagents for the biogenic synthesis of metallic nanoparticles. The natural product components can act as strong reducing and capping substrates guaranteeing the stability of formed NPs. The current work demonstrates the suitability of extracts of Camellia sinensis, Ilex paraguariensis, Salvia officinalis, Tilia cordata, Levisticum officinale, Aegopodium podagraria, Urtica dioica, Capsicum baccatum, Viscum album, and marine algae Porphyra Yezoensis for green synthesis of AgNPs. The antioxidant power of methanolic extracts was estimated at the beginning according to their free radical scavenging activity by the DPPH method and reducing power activity by CUPRAC and SNPAC (silver nanoparticle antioxidant capacity) assays. The results obtained by the CUPRAC and SNAPC methods exhibited excellent agreement (R²~0.9). The synthesized AgNPs were characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), dynamic light scattering (DLS) particle size, and zeta potential. The UV-vis absorption spectra showed a peak at 423 nm confirming the presence of AgNPs. The shapes of extract-mediated AgNPs were mainly spherical, spheroid, rod-shaped, agglomerated crystalline structures. The NPs exhibited a high negative zeta potential value in the range from -49.8 mV to -56.1 mV, proving the existence of electrostatic stabilization. FTIR measurements indicated peaks corresponding to different functional groups such as carboxylic acids, alcohol, phenol, esters, ethers, aldehydes, alkanes, and proteins, which were involved in the synthesis and stabilization of AgNPs. Among the examined extracts, green tea showed the highest activity in all antioxidant tests and enabled the synthesis of the smallest nanoparticles, namely 62.51, 61.19, and 53.55 nm, depending on storage times of 30 min, 24 h, and 72 h, respectively. In turn, the Capsicum baccatum extract was distinguished by the lowest zeta potential, decreasing with storage time from -66.0 up to -88.6 mM.