Microwave-assisted synthesis of l-histidine capped silver nanoparticles for enhanced photocatalytic activity under visible light and effectual antibacterial performance

A facile, rapid one-step green strategy is established here to prepare the l-Histidine (His) capped silver nanoparticles (His-AgNPs) using microwave irradiation conditions performed for optimal duration of 5 min. For the prepared His-AgNPs have been characterized by X-ray powder diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM), Zeta potential measurements and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and UV–Vis spectroscopy techniques also. The HR-SEM images have exposed that flake-like internal structure formation of His-AgNPs with sort nanometer-sized spherical shape morphology has attained. As well, studies prove that, the antibacterial activities of synthesized His-AgNPs had a significant performance against various G⁺ and G⁻ bacteria. Then, the photocatalytic actions of His-AgNPs seem to contain sustaining degradation of MB and MO aqueous dyes under visible light exposure. Overall, the 98% of cationic MB dye degraded within 40 min and 97% anionic MO dye degraded within 100 min of photocatalytic irradiation. The probable mechanism for the improved photocatalytic assets of the His-AgNPs is also discussed. Hence, this study validated a simple and economical approach to synthesize His-AgNPs that are potential candidates for various highly useful industrial and packaging applications.