Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles: Effect of Dextran Molecular Weight Used as Stabilizing-Reducing Agent

This paper describes an easy green chemistry method for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). The AgNPs were obtained through the use of an aqueous silver nitrate solution (AgNO₃), with dextrans aqueous solutions of different molecular weights acting as stabilizing and reducing agent, employing the chemical reduction method. We made a comparative study to determine which molecular weight dextran was the best stabilizing and reducing agent, and it was found that the molecular size of the stabilizing agent is inversely proportional to the size of the nanoparticle synthesized. The formation of the AgNPs was demonstrated by UV-Vis spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). SEM-EDS analysis shows the formation of particles with dendritic structure. TEM shows nanoparticles which are spherical in shape and 1–10 nm in size; also, the clear lattice fringes show highly crystalline AgNPs (FCC).