Green synthesis and characterization of Ag nanoparticles using fresh and dry Portulaca Oleracea leaf extracts: Enhancing light reflectivity properties of ITO glass

Abstract

Silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) are perceiving remarkable progress during the past few periods due to its exclusive properties in many applications. Recently, green synthesis method of NPs is racing against traditional chemical and physical methods by avoiding the use of many toxic chemicals, and expensive devices. Accordingly, in this study, dry and fresh Portulaca-oleracea L. leaf extract has been employed for producing AgNPs as a reducing, capping and stabilizing agents. This process is simple, eco-friendly and green. UV–vis spectra showed the formation of AgNPs represented by the change of a colorless liquid to brownish solution. The crystallinity of the AgNPs, was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The contribution of the available functional groups of the leaf extract in the reduction and capping process of NPs was demonstrated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). This study showed that fresh Portulaca-oleracea L. leaf extract provides better NPs in terms of stability, purity, degree of crystallinity and spherical shape. The biosynthesized AgNPs from both procedures were coated on the indium tin oxide (ITO) glass substrates to enhance the reflectivity property. It has been shown that the utilized AgNPs, from fresh Portulaca-oleracea L. extract, has smaller size and negligeable agglomeration, consequently lower light transmittance.