Improved green biosynthesis of chitosan decorated Ag- and Co3O4-nanoparticles: A relationship between surface morphology, Photocatalytic and biomedical applications.

Abstract AgNPs@Chitosan and Co3O4-NPs@Chitosan were fabricated with Salvia hispanica. Results showed MZI values of 5 and 30 mm for Co3O4-NPs- and AgNPs@Chitosan against S.aureus, and 15 and 21 mm for Co3O4-NPs- and AgNPs@Chitosan against E.coli (24 hours, 20 μg/mL), respectively. MTT assays showed up to (80%, 90%), (71%, 75%) and (91%, 94%) mammalian cell viability for the green synthesized, chemically synthesized AgNPs and green synthesized AgNPs@Chitosan for HEK-293 and PC12 cells, respectively, and (70%, 71%), (59%, 62%) and (88%, 73%) for the related Co3O4-NPs (24 hours, 20 μg/mL). The photocatalytic activities showed dye degradation after 135 and 105 minutes for AgNPs@Chitosan and Co3O4-NPs@Chitosan, respectively. FESEM results showed differences in particle sizes (32 ± 3.0 nm for the AgNPs and 41 ± 3.0 nm for the Co3O4NPs) but AFM results showed lower roughness of the AgNPs@Chitosan (7.639 ± 0.85 nm) compared to Co3O4NPs@Chitosan (9.218 ± 0.93 nm), which resulted in potential biomedical applications.