Plant extract mediated synthesis enhanced the functional properties of silver ferrite nanoparticles over chemical mediated synthesis.

In this study, the antibacterial, antioxidant and cytotoxicity behaviour of silver ferrite nanoparticles (AgFeO2 NPs) synthesized through chemical and green routes were compared. Green synthesis (Bio) of AgFeO2 NPs were prepared by precipitation method using Amaranthus blitum leaves extract as a reducing agent. Chemical synthesis (Che) of AgFeO2 NPs was mediated by sodium borohydride as a reducing agent. [AgFeO2 (Bio)] NPs showed reduced size, better monodispersity and surface area compared to [AgFeO2 (Che)] NPs. The results showed that synthesized NPs have better antibacterial activity against E. coli than S. aureus. In addition, 250 μg of AgFeO2 (Bio) and (Che) NPs showed antioxidant efficiency of 98 and 86%. The results showed that [AgFeO2 (Bio)] NPs showed lower cytotoxicity [AgFeO2 (Che)] NPs against human human embryonic kidney (HEK 293) cells. These results suggest that [AgFeO2 (Bio)] NPs have improved physicochemical properties thereby they can be used as an effective biocatalytic material in biotechnology.