Biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles using Capsicum annum L

CHED 303

Jessica Fuselier, jessicafuselier@yahoo.com1, Michaela Allen, mallen3@xula.edu1, Nsoki Phambu, nphambu@tnstate.edu2, and Anderson Sunda Meya, asundame@xula.edu1. (1) Department of Physics and Dual Engineering, Xavier University of Louisiana, 1 Drexel Dr, New Orleans, LA 70125, (2) Department of Chemistry, Tennessee State University, 3500 John A Merritt Blvd, Nashville, TN 37209
Silver and noble metal nanoparticles have attracted a growing interest in recent years due to their potential for electronic, magnetic, optoelectronics and information storage applications. Silver nanoparticles present attractive physicochemical properties and have been recently shown to be a promising antimicrobial material. In this report, silver nanoparticles have been synthesized at room temperature from the plant Capsicum annuum L. This exciting method is clean, nontoxic and environmentally friendly, and most importantly for our applications, the synthesized materials are biologically compatible. Through systematic variation of solution conditions, particles sufficiently uniform in size will be formed for the growth of large single crystals, opening the way to x-ray structure determination. Furthermore, the formation mechanism of nanostructures has been studied for a better understanding of their detailed chemical and physical properties. The nanoparticles size, shape, surface characteristics, and other pertinent features, have been studied using AFM, Raman, and SEM.
 

Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Nanotechnology
11:00 AM-1:00 PM, Monday, April 7, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Hall A, Poster

Division of Chemical Education

The 235th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008