Green Synthesis and Characterization of Silver Nanoparticles using Ethanol Extract of Myristica fragrans (Nutmeg) and Its Biological Applications

Silver nanoparticles have been synthesized from the ethanol extract of Myristica fragrans seed. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by UV-visible, FT-IR, XRD, SEM, TEM and AFM spectral studies. Formation of silver nanoparticles conform through colour change from pale yellow to brown when ethanol extract of Myristica fragrans was added dropwise to silver nitrate. The appearance of brown color in aqueous solution is due to excitation of surface plasmon vibrations of silver nanoparticles observed between 400 – 450 nm. Peak corresponding to 1741 cm -1 confirms the presence of aldehyde groups in the ethanol extract of Myristica fragrans which is responsible for the capping and stabilization of biosynthesised. AEM images of silver nanoparticles exhibit uniformly distributed, well defined regular nanostructures. Silver nanoparticles showed significant antibacterial action on both the gram classes of gram-negative Escherichia coli and gram-negative bacteria Bacillus cereus .