A biologically friendly approach for silver nanoparticle formation and their in situ attachment to lecithin vesicles

There has been a keen interest for developing a biologically friendly approach for the preparation of silver nanoparticles for their application reasons. A biocompatible, single step method is established for the preparation of silver nanoparticles in lecithin (Egg phosphatidylcholine)/water systems where lecithin itself acts as a reductant for silver nitrate to form the silver nanoparticles. In another attempt, silver nanoparticles were successfully synthesized inside the lecithin vesicles and were found attached to the bilayers of lecithin vesicles. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report where a biological surfactant has acted as a mild reducing agent for silver nitrate by itself to form silver nanoparticles.

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► Silver nanoparticles were formed in lecithin/water system.
► Biological surfactant lecithin itself acts as a reductant.
► Silver nanoparticles were attached to lecithin vesicles.
► Nanoparticles are stable unto few days.