Green functionalization of silver nanoparticles using leaf extract of Cymbopogon citratus and assessment of their biological activities

In present study, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were produced by employing a “green” biosynthetic method using leaf extract of Cymbopogon citratus (CCLE). The reaction between CCLE and silver nitrate produced black coloured solution inferred as the visual confirmation of nanoparticle synthesis. The UV–visible spectrum of spherical oval shaped CCLE-AgNPs reported absorbance at 420 nm with FCC crystalline lattice confirmed by XRD. The average size of CCLE-AgNPs was reported as 30.6 nm (XRD) and 13.1–30.9 nm (TEM) along with the elemental composition by EDX evaluated to be 10.79 %. The presence of numerous organic metabolites was confirmed by FTIR and validated by GC-MS inferring diverse types of organic metabolites as capping and reducing mediators. The bioactivities reported were: antibacterial (MIC and MBC ranged from 15 to 35 µg/ml against both Gram + and - cells); anti-biofilm (70–82 %); antidiabetic (76–83 %); and anti-inflammation (60–65 %). The dye degradative kinetics of CCLE-AgNPs against dyes Rhodamine B and Methyl orange followed pseudo-first order reaction rate with % efficiency of 93 % and 95 %, respectively. Thus, our results explicated a quick, environmentally inert, economical method for CCLE-AgNPs amalgamation for viable applications as prospective nanomedicines and nanocatalysts.