Comparative antibacterial activity of silver nanoparticles synthesised by biological and chemical routes with pluronic F68 as a stabilising agent

The authors report the comparative antibacterial activity of silver nanoparticles synthesised by biological (using Fusarium oxysporum) and chemical routes in the presence and absence of pluronic F68 as a stabilising agent. The production of silver nanoparticles was evidenced by UV–visible spectra, with absorbance at about 420 nm in the case of both biological and chemical synthesis. X-ray diffraction pattern confirmed the presence of face-centred cubic structure (FCC plane). The nanoparticles characterised by transmission and scanning electron microscopy showed spherical silver nanoparticles with size range of 5–40 and 10–70 nm in the case of biologically and chemically synthesised nanoparticles, respectively. Addition of pluronic F68 showed the stabilisation of silver nanoparticles. Antibacterial efficacy of silver nanoparticles demonstrated different inhibitory activity against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Overall, biologically synthesised silver nanoparticles showed higher activity as compared with chemically synthesised nanoparticles. Silver nanoparticles synthesised in the presence of pluronic F68 by the chemical route exhibited synergism in antibacterial activity as compared with those synthesised without pluronic F68. On the contrary, biogenic silver nanoparticles without pluronic F68 showed higher antibacterial potential.