A comparative study of the effect of α-, β-, and γ-cyclodextrins as stabilizing agents in the synthesis of silver nanoparticles using a green chemistry method

• Published in: Materials Science & Engineering C Vol. 43; pp. 21 - 26
• Main Authors: Suárez-Cerda, Javier, Nuñez, Gabriel Alonso, Espinoza-Gómez, Heriberto, Flores-López, Lucía Z.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01-10-2014
• Subjects: Agglomerates; Cyclodextrins; Cyclodextrins - chemistry; Formations; Green chemistry method; Metal Nanoparticles - chemistry; Microscopy, Atomic Force; Microscopy, Electron; Nanoparticles; Silver; Silver - chemistry; Silver nanoparticles; Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; Spectroscopy; Stabilizing agents; Synthesis; Transmission electron microscopy; Cyclodextrins; Stabilizing agents; Green chemistry method; Silver nanoparticles
• ISSN: 0928-4931; 1873-0191
• DOI: 10.1016/j.msec.2014.07.006

This paper describes the effect of different types of cyclodextrins (CDs) in the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs), using an easy green chemistry method. The Ag-NPs were obtained using an aqueous silver nitrate solution (AgNO3) with α-, β-, or γ-CDs (aqueous solutions) as stabilizing agents, employing the chemical reduction method with citric acid as a reducing agent. A comparative study was done to determine which cyclodextrin (CD) was the best stabilizing agent, and we found out that β-CD was the best due to the number of glucopyranose units in its structure.
The formation of the Ag-NPs was demonstrated by analysis of UV–vis spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM–EDS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). SEM–EDS showed the formation of a cluster with a significant amount of silver, for β-CD-Ag-NPs, spherical agglomerates can be observed. However, for α-, γ-CD, the agglomerates do not have a specific form, but their appearance is porous. TEM analysis shows spherical nanoparticles in shape and size between ~0.5 to 7nm. The clear lattice fringes in TEM images and the typical selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern, showed that the Ag-NPs obtained were highly crystalline with a face cubic center structure (FCC).
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•We report a green chemistry method for silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) synthesis.•We study the effect of cyclodextrin type on the silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) synthesis.•The silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) characterization were done by UV–vis, AFM, SEM–EDS, and TEM.•The Ag-NPs obtained have a face cubic center structure (FCC).•The nanoparticles obtained are spherical in shape and between ~0.5 and 7nm in size.