Green Synthesis of Crystalline Silver Nanoparticles Using Indigofera aspalathoides-Medicinal Plant Extract for Wound Healing Applications

Abstract

A simple biological green synthesis of silver nanoparticles for wound healing applications was developed using medicinal plant Indigofera aspalathoides. The exploitation of various medicinal plant materials for the biosynthesis of nanoparticles is considered a green technology as it does not involve any harmful chemicals. In the present study an aqueous leaf extract of Indigofera aspalathoides was used to synthesize silver nanoparticles for wound healing applications. Bioreduction of silver nitrate were used to synthesize silver nanoparticles using aqueous plant extracts. Water-soluble organics present in the plant materials are responsible to reduce the silver ions to nano-sized Ag particles. The green synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by UV-visible spectroscopy. Scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The kinetics of reduction of aqueous silver ions during reaction with the Indigofera aspalathoides crude extract was performed by UV-visible spectroscopy. The SEM analysis showed that aqueous silver ions, when exposed to extract were reduced and resulted in the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles in the size range of 20-50 nm. This eco-friendly approach for the synthesis of nanoparticles is simple, can be scaled up for large-scale production and will be tested for wound healing applications following excision wound method in animal models.