Pelargonium graveolens plant leaf essential oil mediated green synthesis of Silver Nano particles and its antifungal activity against human pathogenic fungi

Abstract

The various plant leaf essential oils used for the biosynthesis of Nano particles is considered a green technology used to kill human pathogenic microorganisms. The present study reports the synthesis of silver (Ag) nanoparticles from silver precursor using plant leaf essential oil Pelargonium graveolens. Water-soluble organics present in the plant materials were mainly responsible for the reduction of silver ions to Nano-sized Ag particles. SEM, TEM, FTIR, XRD and fluroscence spectroscopy results confirmed the presence of nano-powedry Ag particles. The pH played a major role in size control of the particles. The plant essential oil produced more Ag nanoparticles which was attributed to the large availability of the reducing agents in the plant oil. Thus Pelargonium graveolens are a good bio-resource/biomaterial for the synthesis of Ag nanoparticles with antifungal activity. The antifungal activity results showed that synthesized silver nanoparticle from the plant oil was highly active against clinically isolated human fungal pathogens, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis and Candida kefyr.