Optimization of myco-synthesized silver nanoparticles by response surface methodology employing Box-Behnken design

Abstract The objective of current study was to optimize the average diameter size of biosynthesized Silver Nanoparticles (AgNPs) induced by Penicillium citrinum. The AgNPs were prepared with a spherical shape and good monodispersity, determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS). Besides, response surface methodology (RSM) was conducted to optimize the average diameter size of AgNPs by employing Box-Behnken design (BBD). The effective factors in this process were concentration of AgNO3 (mM) (X1), pH of solution (X2), temperature of shaker incubator (°C) (X3), rate of shaker incubator (rpm) (X4) and time of incubation (hour) (X5). The R2 (0.8894) value of the obtained model indicated a good correlation between the observed and predicted values. Overall, it could be concluded that multivariate analysis facilitated to find out the optimum conditions for the biosynthesis of AgNPs induced by P. citrinum with the reduced time and cost.