Biogenic synthesis of silver nanoparticles from white rot fungi: Their characterization and antibacterial studies

Abstract The advanced research and development of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) is vast due to their incredible applications today. In this work, research was focused on the production, characterization and antibacterial studies of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). We used an environmentally friendly extracellular biosynthetic method for the production of the AgNPs. The reducing agents used to produce the nanoparticles were from culture filtrate extracts made from two white rot fungi. Synthesis of colloidal AgNPs was monitored by UV-Visible spectroscopy. The UV-Visible spectrum showed a peak between 419 and 421 nm corresponding to the Plasmon absorbance of the AgNPs. The characterization of the AgNPs such as their size and shape was performed by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) techniques which indicated a size range of 15–25 nm. The anti-bacterial activity of AgNPs was investigated by using four Gram-negative and four Gram-positive bacteria. All the bacterial strains are showing good antibacterial activity.