Biosynthesis and Characterization of Silver Nanoparticles Mediated by Seed Extract of Macassar Ebony with Catalytic and Antimicrobial Activity

This paper presents a pioneering investigation of synthesizing Ag-NPs using Macassar Ebony seed (MES) extract. The bioactive metabolites in the MES extract were essential in reducing silver (Ag) ions, forming MES-Ag-NPs. The biosynthesized MES-Ag-NPs were characterized using several techniques, including UV-visible, DLS, XRD, FT-IR, and TEM. The MES-Ag-NPs have a zeta potential of - 33.9 mV, which defines their stability. The XRD diffractogram exhibited peaks at 2 theta values of 38.07 degrees, 44.27 degrees, 64.62 degrees, and 77.57 degrees, which correspond to the (111), (200), (220), and (311) crystallographic planes of cubic Ag crystal, respectively. The TEM image revealed that the MES-Ag-NPs exhibited multi-shapes and had an average size of 48.76 nm. When used as catalysts to degrade methylene blue (MB), MES-Ag-NPs demonstrated a degradation efficiency of more than 80% in just 10 min. Besides, the MES-Ag-NPs had a ZOI of 10.83 +/- 1.17 mm against Staphylococcus aureus and 10.67 +/- 1.19 mm against Escherichia coli, which shows that they might be helpful as an antibacterial agent. The findings of this study shed light on the potential advantages that MES-based Ag-NPs may bring to the medical and environmental remediation fields.