Green Synthesis of Silver Oxide Nanostructures and Investigation of Their Synergistic Effect with Moxifloxacin Against Selected Microorganisms

The Daphne alpina (D. alpina) mediated silver oxide nanoparticles (Ag2O-NPs) were synthesized and loaded with moxifloxacin (MAg2O-NPs) using sonochemical process. The surface area and pore parameters were determined through Brunauer–Emmett–Teller and Barrett–Joyner–Halenda methods using N2 adsorption–desorption data. The mixed phase (cubic, tetragonal and hexagonal) synthesis of Ag2O-NPs and loading of moxifloxacin was confirmed through X-ray diffraction analysis and the average crystallite size for Ag2O-NPs and MAg2O-NPs were 38.52 and 41.03 nm respectively. The transmission and scanning electron microscopies were utilized to study surface morphology, indicate that the visible boundaries disappeared after the functionalization of Ag2O-NPs with moxifloxacin. The chemical composition of both samples was analyzed via energy dispersive X-ray and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies. Agar well diffusion method was followed to test the Ag2O-NPs and MAg2O-NPs against selected microorganism. The bactericidal and fungicidal effects of MAg2O-NPs were significantly higher than the Ag2O-NPs.