Fabrication of Interconnected Plasmonic Spherical Silver Nanoparticles with Enhanced Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) Peaks Using Quince Leaf Extract Solution

Abstract

Interconnected spherical metallic silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were synthesized in the current study using a green chemistry method. The reduction of silver ions to Ag NPs was carried out with low-cost and eco-friendly quince leaves. For the first time, it was confirmed that the extract solution of quince leaves could be used to perform green production of Ag NPs. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was conducted to identify the potential biomolecules that were involved in the Ag NPs. The results depicted that the biosynthesis of Ag NPs through the extract solution of quince leaf was a low-cost, clean, and safe method, which did not make use of any contaminated element and hence, had no undesirable effects. The majority of the peaks in the FTIR spectrum of quince leaf extracts also emerged in the FTIR spectrum of Ag NPs but they were found to be of less severe intensity. The silver ion reduction was elaborated in detail on the basis of the FTIR outcomes. In addition, through X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, the Ag NPs were also confirmed to be crystalline in type, owing to the appearance of distinct peaks related to the Ag NPs. The creation of Ag NPs was furthermore confirmed by using absorption spectrum, in which a localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) peak at 480 nm was observed. The LSPR peak achieved in the present work was found to be of great interest compared to those reported in literature. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) images were used to provide the morphology and grain size of Ag NPs. It was shown from the FESEM images that the Ag NPs had interconnected spherical morphology.