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Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Vol. 13 No. 3 (2026)

Extracellular synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Amaranthus cruentus L. endophytic fungi: A novel approach to bioactive nanoparticles

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.11230
Submitted
11 August 2025
Published
12-08-2026 — Updated on 22-08-2026
Versions

Abstract

Nanotechnology plays a pivotal role in the production of biomedicine and treatment of diseases. In this study, we synthesised silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) by using the endophytes of Amaranthus cruentus L., characterised their properties and explored their bioactivity. The procedure adopted was extracellular or green synthesis of AgNPs by using the endophytic fungi isolated from A. cruentus. After synthesis of nanoparticles, they were characterised by ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometry, field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). The zeta potential of the synthesised nanoparticles was also studied by DLS. The changing of colour from pale yellow to deep brown indicated the reduction of silver ions (Ag+) into silver nanoparticles (Ag0). The particle size was determined following FE-SEM, TEM and DLS. Quantitative estimation and absorption peak determination at 450 nm, indicating changes in surface plasmon resonance (SPR) were carried out using UV-Vis analysis. The XRD studies confirmed the crystalline and face-centred cubic (FCC) structure of AgNPs. The presence of different functional groups was studied by FT-IR. Purity checking of silver was done by EDAX. Antimicrobial properties were studied using these AgNPs against both gram-positive (Bacillus sp.), gram-negative (Escherichia coli) and groups of pathogenic bacteria. The antioxidant properties of the synthesised AgNPs were also evaluated, showing 72 % scavenging activity.

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