Green synthetic approach of silver nanoparticles from Bauhinia tomentosa Linn. leaves extract for potent photocatalytic and in vitro biological applications

Metal nanoparticles have numerous applications such as optics, biomedical sciences, drug delivery, catalysis and electronics. The present work deals with the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) using leaves extract of Bauhinia tomentosa Linn. and its photocatalytic and in vitro biological activities. The Ag NPs were synthesized via hydrothermal method by adding plant leaf extract. The synthesized Ag NPs were comprehensively characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM, EDAX and HR-TEM. The green treated Ag NPs have spherical shape with uniform size of 8–25 nm. The optical energy gap of the Ag NPs was determined from the diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Photocatalytic activity of green treated Ag NPs was studied using an organic dye Rose Bengal under solar irradiation and these nanoparticles showed efficacy in degrading the dye within a few hours of exposure. The detailed in vitro antibacterial and anticancer activities of the green treated Ag NPs were investigated. The Ag NPs was found to have effective antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The MTT assay and the microscopic observations of cell morphology revealed, a potent anticancer effects of the synthesized nanoparticles on breast cancer cell line (MCF-7). According to the results, the present reported anisotropic silver nanoparticles with controlled shape and size were synthesized by a simple and efficient method and it has great potential for cost-effective environmental remediation and nanomedicine applications.