Green Synthesis of the Monodisperse Crystalline Ag Nanoparticles Using Chestnut Shell Extract

The chestnut shell was usually discarded as the agriculture waste and the random deposition of it can cause some environmental problem. In this study, the monodisperse crystalline Ag nanoparticles were synthesized by a hydrothermal method in which the chestnut shell extract was used as both reducing agent and stabilizer. The synthesized Ag nanoparticles were characterized by ultraviolet and visible spectrophotometry (UV), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. The TEM, XRD and XPS results indicated that the obtained nanomaterial were spherical Ag nanoparticles with the average size of 8.82 nm and had face-centered cubic crystal structure. The antibacterial activity test revealed that the Ag nanoparticles modified by the chestnut shell extract had obvious inhibitory effect on Escherichia coli , S taphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans .