As the application of nano-scale materials and structures (1 to 100 nm), is an emerging process of waste remediation it is essential that their route of synthesis should utilise environmentally benign solvents and nontoxic chemicals. As silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are reported to have distinctive properties, such as good conductivity, chemical stability, catalytic and antibacterial activity, this study deals with the green synthesis of AgNPs and their toxicity analysis. In this method, AgNPs were prepared using water as an environmentally benign solvent and three different leaf extracts as reducing agent. The aqueous silver ions when exposed to leaf extract were reduced and resulted in silver nanoparticle. The silver nanoparticles were characterized by UV�Visible and Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. As it is expected that these materials will eventually be discharged into the environment, therefore, organisms, and especially those that interact strongly with their immediate environment such as plants, are expected to be affected as a result of their exposure to AgNPs. This study deals with estimation of AgNP toxicity on two legume plants of the family Fabaceae, namely Moong Bean (Vigna radiata) and Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) to study the effect of the same on germination parameters and oxidative stress in the respective seeds. Results show that AgNPs had no significant toxic impact on the exposed seedlings and in certain cases may have acted as growth promoters as well. Hence, these green synthesised AgNPs may be efficiently utilised for environmental remediation and safely discharged into the nature.

Assessment on the toxicological effect of silver nanoparticle synthesized using bioreduction process

247th National Meeting (2014)

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