Green synthesis of silver nanoparticle for the selective and sensitive colorimetric detection of mercury (II) ion

- Instant biosynthesis of AgNPs using an aqueous extract of Murraya koenigii.
- AgNPs was synthesized without external energy supply and instrumental support.
- 30 min exposure time, 4 mM AgNO3 and 2% AEM were found to be optimum for the synthesis of AgNPs.
- The synthesized AgNPs showed selective and sensitive colorimetric detection towards Hg2 +.

An ecofriendly and zero cost approach has been developed for the photoinduced synthesis of more stable AgNPs using an aqueous extract of Murraya koenigii (AEM) as a reducing and stabilizing agent. The exposed reaction mixture of AEM and AgNO3 to sunlight turned dark brown which primarily confirmed the biosynthesis of AgNPs. The biosynthesis was monitored by UV-vis spectroscopy which exhibited a sharp SPR band at 430 nm after 30 min of sunlight exposure. The optimum conditions for biosynthesis of AgNPs were 30 min of sunlight exposure, 2.0% (v/v) of AEM inoculuam dose and 4.0 mM AgNO3 concentration. TEM analysis confirmed the presence of spherical AgNPs with average size 8.6 nm. The crystalline nature of the AgNPs was confirmed by XRD analysis where the Bragg's diffraction pattern at (111), (200), (220) and (311) corresponded to face centered cubic crystal lattice of metallic silver. The surface texture was analyzed by AFM analysis where the average roughness of the synthesized AgNPs was found 1.8 nm. FTIR analysis was recorded between 4000 and 400 cm− 1 which confirmed the involvement of various functional groups in the synthesis of AgNPs. On the basis of the linear relationship between SPR band intensity and different concentration of Hg2 +, the synthesized AgNPs can be used for colorimetric detection of Hg2 + with a linear range from 50 nm to 500 μM. Based on experimental findings, an oxidation-reduction mechanism between AgNPs and Hg2 + was also proposed.