Journal of Molecular Liquids 263 (2018) 187–192

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Journal of Molecular Liquids

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/molliq

Short Communication

Photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes and antimicrobial activity of

silver nanoparticles fast synthesized by flavonoids fraction of Psidium
guajava L. leaves
Lu Wang, Fangju Lu, Yan Liu, Yanan Wu, Zhenqiang Wu ⁎
School of Biology and Biological Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A novel and ecofriendly procedure was developed for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (FAgNPs) with the re-
Received 9 November 2017 duction of AgNO3. The flavonoids fractions (FF) of Psidium guajava leaves (PGL) were used as a green reducing
Received in revised form 4 April 2018 and capping agent. Results showed that FF from PGL rapidly could synthesize into regular spheres and stable sil-
Accepted 30 April 2018
ver nanoparticles within 10 min. The average particle size of synthesized FAgNPs was 15–20 nm, with maximum
Available online 02 May 2018
absorbance wavelength at 420 nm. Moreover, FAgNPs exhibited a strong inhibition against the selected microor-
Keywords:
ganisms, especially Alcaligenes faecalis, Escherichia coli and Aspergillus niger. Importantly, FAgNPs also possessed
Nanocomposites good catalytic degradation potency for organic dyes, namely, methyl orange and Coomassie brilliant blue G-
Antimicrobial activity 250, under solar or UV irradiation. Overall, FAgNPs have good potential application prospects in the development
Photocatalytic degradation of anti-bacterial materials and for the photocatalytic degradation of certain toxic dyes or chemicals, thereby pav-
Psidium guajava L. leaves ing the way for waste treatment and environmental bio-remediation.
Flavonoids © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction a green chemical synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) through the

Psidium guajava L. leaves (PGL), used as herbal tea or a source of
functional beverages in many countries, contain various bioactive com-
pounds, including flavonoids, polyphenols, and saponins [1]. In the
present work, PGL was used as a renewable bio-resource to produce
bio-based functional materials. Nanotechnology is one of the most in-
teresting and challenging fields in biomedical, waste treatment and en-
vironmental bioremediation research due to its unique and attractive
physiochemical properties. Metal nanoparticles show improved proper-
ties based on idiographic characteristics, such as a higher surface-to-
volume ratio and small size compared with the bulk material made
from metal [2]. Although many conventional methods, such as
microwave-irradiation, electro-irradiation, and strong chemical reduc-
tants, are used to synthesize nanoparticles, these methods are expen-
sive and employ strong chemical reagents that can be very harmful to
human health [3]. Currently, microbial or plant extracts have been de-
veloped to synthesize silver nanoparticles. Khamhaengpol and Siri,
(2017) reported that using tissue extract of weaver ant larvae, silver
nanoparticles could be synthesized within 48 h [4]. Ravichandran
et al., (2016) reported the synthesis of silver nanoparticles using
Atrocarpus altilis leaf extracts within 24 h [5]. Das et al., (2012) reported
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: btzhqwu@scut.edu.cn (Z. Wu).
reduction of silver nitrate by a fungal strain of Rhizopus oryzae with 72 h
[6]. These new methods are convenient and ecofriendly but time-
consuming. In the present work, the flavonoids fraction (FF) from
Psidium guajava L. leaves (PGL) are reported as promising reductants
for the rapidly and eco-friendly synthesis of benign and stable silver
nanoparticles.
Silver nanoparticles are a relatively new material to be used as anti-
microbial agents. The antimicrobial activity of the nanoparticles can be
applied for disinfection in waste water treatment factories, to prevent
bacterial colonization, to eliminate microorganisms on medical and sil-
icone rubber gaskets and to protect and transport food and textiles. Syn-
thetic organic dyes in waste water are generally released from plastic,
paper, leather, cosmetic, textile and pharmaceutical industries. Remov-
ing these non-biodegradable organic chemicals from the environment
and industrial waste is a challenging problem. Many techniques have
been routinely used for degrading dyes, such as activated carbon sorp-
tion, electro-coagulation and microbial treatments [7]. However, these
techniques show insignificant degradation effects on certain toxic
dyes. Recently, silver nanoparticles have been applied in the catalytic
degradation of methylene blue and eosin Y [8]. Due to the high surface
area of silver nanoparticles, they exhibit a strong degrading activity on
dyes [9]. In this study, the antimicrobial activity and the photocatalytic
degradation of methyl orange (MO) and Coomassie brilliant blue G-
250 (CBB G-250) were investigated in the presence of the synthesized
FAgNPs.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2018.04.151
0167-7322/© 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
188 L. Wang et al. / Journal of Molecular Liquids 263 (2018) 187–192
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Plant materials and chemicals
Psidium guajava L. leaves (PGL) were provided by Jiangmen Nanyue
Guava farmer cooperatives (Guangdong, China). Silver nitrate (AgNO3,
N99.8%) were purchased from Tianjin Kemiou Chemical Reagent Co.,
Ltd. (Tianjin, China). Individual flavonoid standards, Methyl orange
(MO), Coomassie brilliant blue G-250 (CBB G-250), Ampicillin, and Pen-
icillin were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA). Formic
acid and acetonitrile solvents were purchased from Fisher Scientific
(HPLC grade, 99.9%, Waltham, MA, USA).
2.2. Microorganisms
The antimicrobial activity of FAgNPs was evaluated using a panel of
strains that included laboratory control strains obtained from the School
of Biology and Biological Engineering, South China University of Tech-
nology. Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, as well as one fun-
gus, were used in the present study. The Gram-negative bacteria
included Escherichia coli and Alcaligenes faecalis. The Gram-positive bac-
teria included Bacillus aryabhattai and Bacillus subtilis. The fungus used
was Aspergillus niger.
2.3. Extraction and purification of flavonoids fraction from Psidium guajava
L. leaves
One hundred grammes of the dried PGL powder was soaked in 1 L
ethanol solution (70%, v/v, Tianjin, China) for 1 h. Extraction of compos-
ites from the leaf residues was performed using ultra-sound at 320 W
for 30 min. The suspension was filtered through filter paper with pore
size of 0.45 μm. The crude extracts were evaporated to dryness under
vacuum. The separation and purification of the flavonoids fraction was
performed using an AB-8 macroporous resin eluted with a gradient of
ethanol and water (0:100, 30:70, 50:50, 70:30, 100:0, v/v) [10]. The op-
timum dynamic adsorption and desorption conditions of AB-8
macroporous resin were as follows: pH value of sample solution was
5, the flow rate was two bed volume (BV)/h and the gradient of ethanol
and water was 70:30 (v:v), respectively. The collected eluents, which
are a bright yellow transparent solution, were concentrated by rotary
evaporation and freeze-dried. The flavonoids fraction (2.4%, w/w) was
obtained by this method.
2.4. HPLC-ESI-TOF/MS analysis of flavonoids fraction
The flavonoid compounds were identified by HPLC-ESI-TOF/MS
method. The HPLC-ESI-TOF/MS system was comprised of an HPLC sys-
tem (1200, Agilent, Santa Clara, CA, USA) equipped with a diode array
detector (Waters 2998, Milford, MA, USA) and an ultra-high resolution
TOF mass detector (maXis, Bruker, Billerica, MA, USA). A Zorbax Eclipse
Plus C18 column (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm, Agilent) was used for flavo-
noid separation with an instant working temperature at 30 °C. The mo-
bile phase included a 0.1% formic acid aqueous solution (v/v, solution
A) and a acetonitrile solution (solution B) at a constant flow rate of
0.8 mL/min with the following gradient program: 0–5 min, 15% solution
B; 5–10 min, 15–20% solution B; 10–20 min, 20–25% solution B;
20–30 min, 25–35% solution B; 30–40 min, 35–50% solution B;
40–50 min, 80% solution B; and 50–55 min, 15% solution B. Conditions
for MS operation were: 4 kV electrospray voltage with temperature,
6.0 L/min N2 flow rate and voltage of 350 °C and ±40 V in the vaporizer.
The mass spectra of each peak were recorded in either positive ion
mode within the range of the ion abundance from 100 to 1000 (m/z).
A dwell time of 500 ms was recorded under a selected ion-monitoring
mode. The mass spectra and distribution patterns of ion fragmentation
were used for similarity comparison with standardized data [11].
2.5. Synthesis and characterization of FAgNPs
Five millilitres of 5 mg/mL separated flavonoids solution (pH = 9)
was added to 100 mL of 1 mM AgNO3 solution with stirring at room
temperature for 30 min [12–14]. The mixture was centrifuged at
12,000 rpm for 15 min to collect the FAgNPs. The reduction of the Ag+
to Ag0 was monitored at different time intervals using UV–visible spec-
troscopic analysis in the range of 200 to 700 nm (UV-2802SH, UNICO,
Shanghai, China), a scanning electron microscope equipped with energy
dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), a transmission electron mi-
croscope (TEM) (JEM-2100F, JEOL), a Fourier transform infrared spec-
trometer (FT-IR, Shimadzu, Japan) between 400 and 4000 cm−1 and
an X-ray diffractometer (XRD, D8 Advance, Bruker).
2.6. Antimicrobial activity assays
The antimicrobial activity of the FAgNPs was assessed against se-
lected Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria and fungus
using the agar well diffusion method [12]. For comparison, the antimi-
crobial activities of FF and the silver nitrate solution were used as the
controls. Ampicillin and Penicillin were used as the positive controls.
The antibacterial activity was evaluated by the size of the diameter in
the inhibition zone.
2.7. Photo-catalytic activities assays
MO and CBB G-250 dyes were selected to evaluate the photocatalytic
degradation potency of synthesized FAgNPs. The degradation experi-
ments for MO were performed in a chamber with 8 light tubes
(40 W/tube, China, light intensity was 0.015 W cm−2, wavelength
around 450 nm). The experiments for CBB G-250 were performed
under UV irradiation in a chamber with 2 UV light tubes (40 W/tube,
light intensity was 0.02 W cm−2, wavelength around 365 nm). Prior
to the experiment, 20 mg of FAgNPs was added to 50 mL of MO or
CBB G-250 solution (10 mg/L, Fisher Scientific). The mixture was first
stirred constantly for approximately 30 min in darkness to ensure equi-
librium of FAgNPs in the organic dye solution. During the reaction, the
MO mixture was kept under solar irradiation in a Pyrex glass beaker
and stirred constantly for 10 h, and the CBB G-250 mixture was kept
under UV irradiation in a Pyrex glass beaker and stirred constantly for
6 h. The absorption spectrum of the mixture was measured periodically
using a UV–Vis spectrophotometer (Shimadzu, UV-2450, Japan) after
centrifugation to monitor the degradation of MO or CBB G-250 solution.
The degradation efficiency of MO or CBB G-250 was calculated based on
Eq. (1):
C 0 −C t
Degradation efficiency ð%Þ ¼  100 ð1Þ
C0
C0 represented the concentration of dyes before degradation.
Ct represented the concentration of dyes after degradation.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Identification of flavonoid compounds
HPLC-ESI-TOF/MS was used to identify the flavonoid components
separated from the PGL extracts. During the HPLC-ESI-TOF/MS analyses,
the mass error tolerance was 4 ppm, representing a systematic error in
the measurements. As shown in Fig. 1A and Table 1, Peak 1 could be
confirmed to be rutin based on the parent ion at m/z of 611.4210 [M
+ H]+ which produced two main ions at 303.0510 [C15H10O7 + H]+
and 465.1002 [C21H20O11 + H]+. Peak 2 was identified as isoquercitrin
by the parent ion m/z of 465.1002 [C21H20O12 + H]+ and produced two
main ions at 303.0501 [C15H10O7 + H]+ and 163.1221 [M-C15H10O7
+ H]+. Three isomers of quercetin glucoside (Peak 3, 4, and 5) were
 L. Wang et al. / Journal of Molecular Liquids 263 (2018) 187–192 189

A FSM 1.8
0.25 420 nm
1 SFF CK 5s 10 min
7 1.6
0.20
5
1.4
0.15 2 34
8
AU

6 1.2

Absorbance
0.10
1.0
4 5
0.05 7 CK
3 0.8
2 5s
0.00
6 20 s
1 8 0.6 1 min
12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40
5 min
Time (min) 0.4
10 min
B
0.2
HO HO
OH OH
0.0
O O
HO HO 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700
R1
O
O
OH R1
O
O
OH
Wavelength (nm)
R2
2 R1 =glucose
1 R1=rhamnose, R2 =glucose
3 R1 =xylopyranose Fig. 2. UV–Vis spectra spectrum of synthesized FAgNPs at different time intervals.
4 R1 =arabinopyranose
5 R1 =arabinofuranose
6 R1 =rhamnose
rate of formation of FAgNPs was much higher than that reported previ-
HO
ously [4,5], which indicates that FF could be applied as a successful and
HO
O OH highly efficient material for synthesis of silver nanoparticles.
O OH
HO
HO
HO O OH
3.3. Physicochemical characteristics of FAgNPs
O OH

7 Quercetin 8 Kaempferol
Fig. 1. HPLC chromatograms (A) and the chemical structures (B) of the separated
flavonoids fraction from Psidium guajava L. leaves. FSM, Flavonoids standard mixture;
SFF, Separated flavonoid fraction. 1 Rutin, 2 Isoquercitrin, 3 Quercetin-3-O-β-D-
xylopyranosid, 4 Quercetin-3-O-α-L-arabinoside, 5 Avicularin, 6 Quercitrin, 7 Quercetin,
8 Kaempferol.
characterized by the parent ion m/z of 435.0901 [M + H]+ and pro-
duced two main ions at 303.0490 [C15H10O7 + H]+ and 133.2510 [M-
C15H10O7 + H]+. Based on the standard, peaks 3, 4 and 5 were identified
to be quercetin-3-O-β-D-xylopyranoside, quercetin-3-O-α-L-
arabinopyranoside and avicularin, respectively. Peak 6 can be identified
as quercitrin by the parent ion m/z of 449.0984 [C21H20O11 + H]+ and
produced the main ion at 303.0501 [C15H10O7 + H]+. Peak 7 was con-
firmed to be quercetin by the main ion at 303.0501 [C15H10O7 + H]+.
Additionally, peak 8 can be identified as kaempferol by the main ion at
287.0234 [C15H10O6 + H]+. The chemical structures of identified flavo-
noids compounds were presented in Fig. 1B.
3.2. Quick synthesis of FAgNPs
A very rapid reaction was observed when the FF and AgNO3 solution
were mixed at room temperature. The reaction mixture quickly turned
a dark colour within 10 min. The visual observations were confirmed by
the UV–vis absorption measurements of the reaction solution. As seen
from the spectral recordings, the absorbance feature at 420 nm, indica-
tive of elemental silver, reaches a maximum after 10 min (Fig. 2). The
Fig. 3A displays the FTIR spectra of flavonoids powder and its synthe-
sized FAgNPs. Several characteristic peaks were observed. The flavo-
noids showed major absorption peaks at 669 cm−1, 1367.78 cm−1,
1657.39 cm−1 and 3349.34 cm−1 corresponding to \\C_C, \\C_O,
\\C\\O and \\OH groups' stretching vibration, respectively. The syn-
thesized FAgNPs showed characteristic bands at 670.43 cm−1,
2936.75 cm−1, 1069.31 cm−1, 1321.32 cm−1, 1626.43 cm−1, and
3273.46 cm−1, respectively. On comparing the FTIR spectra of FF and
FAgNPs, a shift in the absorption peaks of the \\OH, \\C\\O and
\\C_O groups was observed, confirming that the flavonoid com-
pounds capped the FAgNPs surface [15]. The XRD pattern of FAgNPs
showed five prominent diffraction peaks at 2θ = 32.89°, 38.63°,
44.82°, 63.45°, and 76.48°, in accordance to the (122), (111), (200),
(220), and (311) planes of the face-centred cubic structure (JCPDS file
No. 087-0717) of silver, respectively. Based on calculations using the
Debye–Scherrer formula, the size of synthesized FAgNPs was estimated
to be approximately 20 nm (Fig. 3B). This finding is consistent with the
results measured by TEM. The FAgNPs possessed a narrow particle-size
distribution of 15 to 20 nm and a low polydispersity index of 0.424
(Fig. 3C). The zeta potential value of FAgNPs was −19.37 mV
(Fig. 3D), confirming the reasonable stability of the synthesized silver
nanoparticles [16]. The SEM images clearly showed a uniform spherical
shape with smooth surface of the synthesized FAgNPs (Fig. 4A). The par-
ticles had an average size of 15 to 20 nm, same as the result measured by
TEM (Fig. 4B). The purity and composition of the FAgNPs, as analysed by
EDX, showed high characteristic signals of elemental Ag in FAgNPs at
approximately 3 keV followed by C and O (Fig. 4C). The C and O element
signals may be attributed to the flavonoids compounds covering the

Table 1
Identification of flavonoids compounds of PGL using HPLC-TOF-ESI/MS method.

Peak No. Retention time (min) λmax (nm) Molecular ion (m/z) MS2(m/z) Mw Compounds Reference

1 16.15 256, 354 611.4210 [M + H]+ 465.1002, 303.0510, 309.1121 610 Rutin Standard
2 17.82 254, 360 465.3610 [M + H]+ 303.0501, 163.1221 465 Isoquercitrin Standard
3 19.39 256, 356 435.0901 [M + H]+ 303.049, 133,1412 434 Quercetin-3-O-α-L-arabinofuranoside Standard
4 20.15 257, 356 435.0930 [M + H]+ 303.0509,133.2510 434 Quercetin-3-O-β-D-xylopyranoside Standard
5 20.79 257, 353 435.0940 [M + H]+ 303.0511 434 Avicularin Standard
6 21.59 256, 351 449.1098 [M + H]+ 303.0512, 147.1232 448 Quercitrin Standard
7 33.15 254, 371 303.0516 [M + H]+ 303.0516 302 Quercetin Standard
8 38.21 254, 365 287.0891 [M + H]+ 287.0891 286 Kaempferol Standard
190 L. Wang et al. / Journal of Molecular Liquids 263 (2018) 187–192

surface of FAgNPs. The possible synthesis pathway of FAgNPs is shown their activity, ultimately killing the bacteria. Due to the different proper-
in Fig. S1 [17]. ties of the cell wall structure, such as thinner peptidoglycan layer of
Gram-negative bacteria, silver nanoparticles can more easily reach the
3.4. Antimicrobial activity cytoplasm or interact with the cell membrane, causing damage of the
membrane or proteins [19]. Hence, Gram-negative bacteria were ob-
As observed in Fig. 5, FF does not exhibit any inhibitory activity served to be significantly more sensitive to the silver nanoparticles
against selected strains compared to AgNO3 or FAgNPs. FAgNPs exhib- than were the Gram-positive bacteria (p b 0.05).
ited improved antibacterial activity against the selected strains, leading
to larger clear zones on the plates. Although AgNO3 also exhibited 3.5. Photo-catalytic activity on degradation of organic dyes
strong inhibition against the selected strains, AgNO3 cannot be widely
applied in biomedical or waste water treatment fields due to its high Fig. 6A presents the UV absorption spectra for degradation of MO by
toxicity. Silver nanoparticles showed improved properties based on id- solar irradiation in the absence of FAgNPs. The maximum absorption
iographic characteristics, such as higher surface-to-volume ratio and peak of MO was found to appear at 464 nm. This maximum absorption
small size, compared with the AgNO3 solution. A 100 μg/mL dose of peak at 464 nm decreased gradually with the extension of exposure
FAgNPs exhibited a good inhibitory activity against A. faecalis and time under solar irradiation. From Fig. 6B, it can be concluded that the
A. niger. It showed no significant difference in antimicrobial activity blank experiments performed with solar irradiation in the absence of
against E. coli compared with the same concentration of ampicillin (p any FAgNPs did not show degradation ability of MO. Control experi-
= 0.137). However, compared with the same concentration of penicil- ments performed with FAgNPs in the dark exhibited nearly no change
lin, FAgNPs displayed significant difference in antimicrobial activity in degradation of MO. As demonstrated, FAgNPs possess good catalytic
against A. niger, (p b 0.05). Based on the results described by Wang degradation potency for MO under solar irradiation. Fig. 6C shows the
et al. (2018), with the increasing of the concentration of AgNPs, the an- UV absorption spectra of CBB G-250 by UV irradiation in the absence
timicrobial activity against A. niger was significantly improved [18]. A of FAgNPs. The characteristic absorption peak of CBB G-250 at 585 nm
few studies have established the antimicrobial mechanisms of chloram- was used for monitoring the catalytic degradation process. With the ex-
phenicol, aminoglycosides, tetracyclines, penicillin and glycopeptides. tension of exposure time, the UV absorption spectra of CBB G-250 at
However, regarding the antimicrobial mechanism of silver ions or silver 585 nm showed a progressive decline. From Fig. 6D, it can be observed
nanoparticles, no consistent basis has been accepted. Previous studies that the degradation of CBB G-250 did not progress with UV irradiation
have demonstrated that AgNPs could strongly bind to proteins, different in the absence of FAgNPs. Experiments performed with FAgNPs without
enzymes and non-enzyme proteins, including chaperones, porins, or UV irradiation displayed nearly no change in degradation rate of CBB G-
periplasmic peptide-binding proteins, thereby inhibiting their activities 250. Importantly, the experiments performed with FAgNPs and UV irra-
[16]. FAgNPs probably bind to the cellular and membrane proteins fol- diation possessed good catalytic degradation potency for CBB G-250.
lowing transportation through the compromised cell wall and inhibit Ghosh et al. (2002) reported that silver nanoparticles can act as efficient

A 100
B 2400
(111)

90 2000
% Transmitance

1087.57

1367.78

Intensity (counts)

80
1657.39

1600 (122)
3349.34
669.37

70
2936.75

1200
60
1321.32
1069.31

50 800 (200)
1626.43

(311)
40 (220)
3273.46

Flavonoids
400
30
670.43

FAgNPs
20 0
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Wave numbers (cm-1) 2θ scale

C D
14

12
Intensity (Percent)

10

0
0.1 1 10 100 1000 10000
Size (d, nm)

Fig. 3. (A) XRD pattern, (B) FTIR spectra, (C) size distribution and (D) zeta potential analysis of synthesized PAgNPs.
 L. Wang et al. / Journal of Molecular Liquids 263 (2018) 187–192 191

A B

C 6
Ag 尘⛥

Ag
cps/eV

C Ag
O

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 keV

Fig. 4. SEM micrographs (A), TEM micrographs (B) and EDX spectrum of synthesized FAgNPs (C).

photocatalysts through the electron transfer process due to their large
surface area [20]. The UV/solar irradiation struck the valence electrons
of FAgNPs, they gained energy and emitted from the valence shell.
After emission these highly energetic electrons are used in generation
of hydroxyl radicals which are responsible for decomposition of dyes
[21–24]. The possible mechanism for degradation of dyes by FAgNPs
could be proposed as follows:
(1) Efficient absorption of photons by the synthesized F-AgNPs:
Coomassie brilliant blue G-250. These findings suggest that flavonoid-
mediated synthesized silver nanoparticles can not only prevent micro-
bial colonization but also catalytically degrade toxic or harmful chemical
dyes in the presence of solar or UV irradiation, possibly representing a
new and efficient method for environmental remediation.
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.molliq.2018.04.151.
Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Science and Technology Project of

solar or UV irradation þ − Guangdong Province, China (2016A020210011 and 2017B020207003)
hv þ FAgNPs hv þe
and the Agricultural Science and Technology Research Project of
Jiangmen City, China (20150160008347).

(2) Releasing of OH• radicals 30 *

FF AgNO3 FAgNPs Ampicillin Penicillin

25
Zone of inhibition (mm)

**
þ þ
hv þ OH− →OH hv þ H2 O→OH **

20 *

(3) Degradation of the organic dyes by successive attack by the OH•

radicals 15

10
MO þ OH  →Hydrazine derivatives þ H 2 O

CBB G−250 þ OH →Degradation products þ H2 O

5

0
4. Conclusions 1
B. aryabhattai 2
B. subtilis 3
A. faecalis E. 4coli A. niger
5

Gram-positive Gram-negative Fungus

FAgNPs were synthesized rapidly and in an eco-friendly manner by Strains
adopting flavonoid compounds from PGL at room temperature and
within 10 min of incubation. The FAgNPs possessed good antimicrobial Fig. 5. Antimicrobial activity of the synthesized FAgNPs. Levels of statistical significance
activity and photocatalytic degradation effect on methyl orange and are compared FAgNPs with antibiotic and AgNO3 (*p b 0.05, **p b 0.01, n = 4).
192 L. Wang et al. / Journal of Molecular Liquids 263 (2018) 187–192

A 0.7 464 nm B 60 MO+FAgNPs+Solar irradiation

MO+FAgNPs+dark

Degradation rate (%)

Absorbance (a. u.)
0.6 MO+Solar irradiation
0h 6h 50
0.5
40
0.4
30
0.3 0h
0.5 h
0.2 1h 20
3h
0.1 6h 10
10 h
0.0 0
300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Wavelength (nm) Time (h)

C 0.6 D CBB G-250+FAgNPs+UV irradiation

585 nm 0h 70
CBB G-250+FAgNPs+dark
1h

Degradation rate (%)

0.5 CBB G-250+UV irradiation
2h 60
Absorbance (a.u.)

3h
0.4 4h 50
5h

0.3 40

30
0.2
20
0.1
10
0.0
0
400 450 500 550 600 650 700 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Wavelength (nm) Time (h)

Fig. 6. (A) UV–Visible absorption spectra and (B) photocatalytic activity effect of solar irradiation time on degradation of methyl orange (MO); UV–visible absorption spectra (C) and
photocatalytic activity effect (D) of UV irradiation time on degradation of Coomassie brilliant blue G-250 (CBB G-250). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure
legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Conflict of interest
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
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