Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles from Solanum Lycopersicum L. - Catalytic effect in Decolorisation of Bromocresol green and Congo Red

Plant-mediated metal nanoparticle synthesis is gaining popularity due to its simplicity, pace of nanoparticle synthesis, and environmental friendliness. The green synthesis of metallic nanoparticles has paved the way to improve and protect the environment by decreasing toxic chemicals usage and eliminating biological risks in biomedical applications. Use of plant extract or fruit extract is more advantageous than use of microbes for it does not require the tedious process of culturing the cells. Biological methods using plant extract have proved to be an easy, cost effective and ecofriendly alternative to traditional physical and chemical procedures for degradation of dyes. The present study focused on green synthesis of nanoparticles and their efficacy in decolorisation of certain dyes used by textile industry. Tomato extract was used to reduce Silver nitrate to metallic silver in the form of nano particles. Change in the color of reaction mixture from colorless to brown indicated the formation of nanoparticles which was further confirmed by UV-VIS spectroscopy. The UV-visible absorption spectra of the silver samples exhibited distinct band centered around 420nm. Nanoparticles were characterized by XRD and FTIR. Further details of nanoparticles were provided by SEM. Silver nanoparticles were observed to be excellent catalysts to degrade synthetic dyes which was confirmed by decrease in absorbance values.