Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Coffea canephora fruit skin extract and its application for mercury detection in face cream samples.

Mercury is one of the most toxic heavy metals causing harmful effects on the human body; meanwhile, mercury is found in some face cream products to give a whitening effect. The upper limit concentration of mercury in skin-lightening products defined by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is under one mg/L as Hg. A new green analytical spectrophotometric method for mercury analysis has been developed by employing a biological reagent from fruit skin extract of robusta coffee (Coffea canephora) as a bioreductor for silver ions as well as a stabilizer for the AgNPs product.