Abstract
In this study, effective and environmentally friendly methods were used to achieve the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) by an aqueous plant extract. The Ag NPs were synthesized via Zingiber officinale plant extract that acted as a reducing and stabilizing agent. Various techniques, including UV-Visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used. The plant extract treated with silver nitrate solution at room temperature (27 +/- 20) resulted in the successful synthesis of the Ag NPs, that were confirmed by UV-Vis spectroscopy. The crystalline morphology and size of the nanoparticles were calculated using Scherrer equation, that specify a face-centered cubic (fcc) crystalline structure with size ranges as 16 nm. The spherical geometry of Ag NPs was confirmed from scanning electron microscopy. FT-IR study validates the existence of several functional groups of active biomolecules such as -OH, C-O, C=C, C-O-C, and N-H that act as a reducing and capping agent for the synthesis of Ag NPs and were found in the extract. The synthesized Ag NPs were used to evaluated antimicrobial activity against different bacterial and fungal strains. The Zingiber officinale-Ag NPs exhibited maximum zone of inhibition against Staphylococcus aureus bacterial strain which were 17.8 +/- 0.03 mm, and Fusarium graminium fungal strain showed 11.0 +/- 0.01 mm at 80 mu g/mL concentrations, respectively. Furthermore, the Ag NPs were considered to be a significant anti-asthma agent that decreased the white blood cells (WBC), eosinophils (EOS) in blood level, and wet/dry (W/D) weight proportion of the lung at 24 mu g/g/day. The cytotoxicity of synthesized nanoparticles shows that the concentration under 90 mu g/mL were biologically compatible.