Plant-mediated nanoparticles
are gaining popularity due to biologically
active secondary metabolites that aid in green synthesis. This study
describes a simple, environmentally friendly, dependable, and cost-effective
production of silver nanoparticles utilizing
Cucumis sativus
and
Aloe vera
aqueous leaf extracts. The aqueous
leaf extracts of
Cucumis sativus
and
Aloe
vera
, which worked as a reducing and capping agent, were
used to biosynthesize silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). The formation
of surface plasmon resonance peaks at 403 and 405 nm corresponds to
the formation of colloidal Ag nanoparticles. Similarly, the Bragg
reflection peaks in X-ray diffraction patterns observed at 2θ
values of 38.01°, 43.98°, 64.24°, and 77.12° representing
the planes of [111], [200], [220], and [311] correspond to the face-centered
cubic crystal structure of silver nanoparticles. Fourier transform
infrared spectroscopy confirms that bioactive chemicals are responsible
for the capping of biogenic silver nanoparticles. The size, structure,
and morphology of AgNPs with diameters ranging from 8 to 15 nm were
examined using transmission electron microscopy. Water contamination
by azo dyes and nitrophenols is becoming a more significant threat
every day. The catalytic breakdown of organic azo dye methyl orange
(MO) and the conversion of
para
-nitrophenol (PNP)
into
para
-aminophenol using sodium borohydride was
evaluated using the prepared biogenic nanoparticles. Our nanoparticles
showed excellent reduction ability against PNP and MO with rate constants
of 1.51 × 10
–3
and 6.03 × 10
–4
s
–1
, respectively. The antibacterial activity of
the nanomaterials was also tested against four bacteria:
Staphylococcus
aureus
,
Klebsiella pneumoniae
,
Enterobacter
, and
Streptococcus pneumoniae
. These biogenic AgNPs
displayed effective catalytic and antibacterial characteristics by
reducing MO and PNP and decreasing bacterial growth.