Well crystalline gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) of different sizes were fabricated using sundried Coffea arabica seed (CAS) extract at room temperature by controlling the pH of the green extract. The size, shape and crystallinity of the nanoparticles have been studied using electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The presence of phenolic groups (revealed through FT-IR studies) from the CAS extract are responsible both for the reduction of Au ions and stabilization of the formed AuNPs. The efficiency of the CAS extract mediated green synthesis technique for the production of AuNPs has been compared to the conventional chemical Turkevich technique, which not only uses a toxic reductant such as NaBH 4 , but also operates around the boiling point of water. It has been observed that the CAS extract mediated synthesis process produces relatively bigger AuNPs at similar pH values of the reaction mixture in comparison to the AuNPs produced in the Turkevich process. Although the AuNPs synthesized using CAS extract are relatively larger and polydisperse in nature, their catalytic efficiencies for the degradation of an aromatic nitro compound (4-nitrophenol) are found to be comparable to the chemically fabricated AuNPs. Probable mechanisms associated with the formation of AuNPs and their size control in the CAS extract mediated green synthesis process have been discussed. Fig. 2 Typical SEM images of GAuNPs (left column) and CAuNPs (right column) synthesized at different pH values of the reaction mixture. Insets show histogram reflecting the size dispersion corresponding to each pH; average size of the NPs vs. number of particles. 24822 | RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 24819-24826 This journal is
Noble metal (silver (Ag), gold (Au), platinum (Pt), and palladium (Pd)) nanoparticles have gained increasing attention due to their importance in several research fields such as environmental and medical research.
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