Size Control of Silver Nanoparticles Synthesized by UV Irradiation Technique from Silk Fibroin

This paper presents a standard protocol for the fabrication of biocompatible metal silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) by utilizing protein biomaterials Silk Fibroin (SF) under Ultra-Violet (UV) environment. The silk protein solution has good reducing and stabilizer for the formation of AgNPs. The duration of UV exposure influences the size and shape of the AgNPs. The plasmonic resonance band observed around 425-430 nm is validated from UV-Vis absorption studies and it confirms the conversion of Ag+ to Ag° in silk fibroin solution. AgNPs are evenly dispersed in the SF solution with narrow sizes, as evident by Transmission Electron Micrographs (TEM). The UV exposure time significantly impacted on the size reduction of Ag nanoparticles for medical and electronic device applications.