Spontaneous formation of silver nanoparticles in humid acid-rich water of Santa Barbara, Iloilo

Abstract

Humic acid (HA) - rich water of Sta. Barbara, Iloilo is successful in acting as a reducing and capping agent in the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). UV-Visible spectroscopy was used to determine the effect of irradiation time, varying HA and AgNO3 concentration, and electrolyte addition. Furthermore, the bactericidal efficacy of AgNPs was evaluated using broth microdilution method. Measurement of AgNPs was done using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Lower irradiation time (10- 40 min) shows an increasing absorbance trend. However, absorbance decreased and showed bathochromic shifts when irradiated at longer times (50-60 min). AgNP formulations of 40 ppm HA with 4 mM AgNO3 and 50 ppm HA with 4 mM AgNO3 showed the highest peak intensity for varying AgNO3 and HA concentration, respectively. These results were found in both irradiated and un-irradiated samples. Aggregation occurred upon the addition of 50 mM, 100 mM, and 500 mM NaCl but was more prominent at 500 mM NaCl. Dialyzed and un-dialyzed AgNPs have bactericidal activity. However, un-dialyzed AgNP was a more effective treatment because it showed a bactericidal activity up to 1:16 dilution for both <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> and <i>Escherichia coli</i> as compared to the dialyzed AgNPs which showed a bactericidal activity up to 1:4 for <i>S. aureus</i> and 1:8 for <i>E. coli.</i> The dialyzed AgNPs are polydispersed but were mostly small with sizes less than 10 nm based on the TEM image.