Application of a marine cyanobacterium Phormidium fragile for green synthesis of silver nanoparticles

Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using dry biomass of a marine cyanobacterium Phormidium fragile was investigated. The silver nanoparticles showed absorption maxima at 410 nm due to a shift in plasmon resonance during the process of bioreduction. The silver nanoparticles produced by the above process were of the monodisperse type with a size range of 5-6.5 nm. The zeta potential of synthesized nanoparticles was –15.96 mV, which shows a moderate stability of nanoparticles in the environment. Geometrically, the nanoparticles exhibited a phase centred cubic symmetry, evident from the intense peaks for (200) plane in the XRD-spectrum. Overall, this report provides evidence for the biopotentialities of cyanobacteria for nanotechnological applications.