Bio synthesis and characterization of silver nanoparticles using Lagenaria siceraria leaf extract and their antibacterial activity

The present investigation demonstrates the formation of silver nanoparticles by the reduction of the aqueous silver metal ions during exposure to the Lagenaria siceraria leaf extract. The synthesized AgNPs have characterized by UV-visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) techniques. AgNPs formation has screened by UV-visible spectroscopy through colour conversion due to surface plasma resonance band at 427 nm. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed that the resulting AgNPs are highly crystalline and the structure is face centered cubic (fcc). FT-IR spectrum indicates the presence of different functional groups present in the biomolecules capping the nanoparticles. Further, inhibitory activity of AgNPs and leaf extract were tested against human pathogens like gram-pastive (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis), gram-negative (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). The results indicated that the AgNPs showed moderate inhibitory actions against human pathogens than Lagenaria siceraria leaf extract, demonstrating its antimicrobial value against pathogenic diseases.