The relationship between precursor concentration and antibacterial activity of biosynthesized Ag nanoparticles

The <i>Origanum vulgare</i> L.-mediated synthesis of Ag nanoparticles was successfully realized within the present study. Various concentrations of the AgNO₃ used as a silver precursor (1, 2.5, 5, 10 and 100 mM) were used. Very rapid formation of Ag nanoparticles was observed, as only minutes were necessary for the completion of the reaction. With the increasing concentration, red shift of the surface plasmon resonance peak was observed in the Vis spectra. According to photon cross-correlation spectroscopy results, the finest grain size distribution was obtained for the 2.5 mM sample. The transmission electron microscopy analysis of this sample has shown bimodal size distribution with larger crystallites with 100 nm size and smaller around 10 nm. The antibacterial activity was also the best for this sample so the positive correlation between good grain size distribution and antibacterial activity was found. The in-depth discussion of antibacterial activity with related works from the materials science point of view is provided, namely emphasizing the role of effective nanoparticles distribution within the plant extract or matrix. The antibacterial activity seems to be governed by both content of Ag nanoparticles and their effective distribution. This work contributes to still expanding environmentally acceptable field of green synthesis of silver nanoparticles.