Facile synthesis of silver nanoparticles and their application in dye degradation

•This synthetic method uses the novel reducing agent hexamine.•The method is simple, fast and environment friendly.•This is a cost-effective method as all materials used are inexpensive and readily available.•The method provides highly stable spherical silver nanoparticles.•The nanoparticles show outstanding catalytic activity in the degradation of organic dyes. The present article reports a simple, facile and eco-friendly method based on microwave irradiation for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles in aqueous medium using starch as stabilizing agent and a new reducing agent namely hexamine. The silver nanoparticles were characterized by UV–vis, FTIR, XRD and HR-TEM analysis. UV–vis spectroscopic studies provided sufficient evidences for the formation of nanoparticles. The role of starch in the synthesis and stabilization of the nanoparticles was obtained from FTIR studies. The XRD and HR-TEM investigations clearly demonstrated the crystalline nature of the nanoparticles. From the TEM images, the silver nanoparticles were found to be spherical and of nearly uniform size with an average diameter of 18.2±0.97nm. The nanoparticles showed excellent catalytic activity in the degradation of methyl orange and rhodamine B by NaBH4.