Role of Capping Molecule L-Cysteine on Synthesis and Characterization of Silver Oxide (Ag2O) Nanoparticles by Co-Precipitation Method

Abstract

Biocompatible Ag2Onanoparticles have been developed using L-Cysteine biomolecule as a capping molecule via the elementary co-precipitation method resulting in a stable, efficient, and pure crystal phase of silver oxide nanoparticles at room temperature. Optical, structural, morphological, and compositional measurements indicated that L-Cysteine plays a crucial role in the synthesis because of the better surface passivation and stability of Ag2O nanoparticles. The face-centered cubic phase structure is evident from the XRD pattern, and the particle size was calculated using the Scherrer formula, which is obtained in the range of 50 nm and 76 nm. The present synthetic approach is simple, eco-friendly (non-toxic), and as obtained, silver oxide nanoparticles can be used for photocatalytic and display applications.