Photocatalytic and Antibacterial Potential of Silver Nanocubes and Nanorods Synthesized via Polyol Reduction Method

Water pollution is a real threat to existence of life on earth. Among major water pollutants, hazardous organic dyes present in industrial effluents need to be immediately addressed. These dyes can be photodegraded using nanocatalysts. Metal-based nanocatalysts are preferred for photocatalytic applications due to their high surface area and suitable energy band gap to produce and sustain photo-generated electrons and holes. Therefore, AgNPs of different morphology (cubic and rod shape) has been reported in current study. AgNPs in form of nanocubes and nanorods have been synthesized by polyol reduction method using ethylene glycol as reducing agent and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as capping agent. Effect of etchants (KCl and FeCl 2 ) was studied on the morphology of AgNPs. The prepared nanocubes and nanorods were characterized by UV-visible, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Nanocubes and nanorods were eventually evaluated for their photocatalytic potential under sunlight irradiation. Silver nanorods were found more active for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye with 88% degradation after 110 minutes. Antibacterial potential of AgNPs was also evaluated by disk diffusion method against gram-positive and gram-negative strains. AgNPs were found more noxious against gram-negative bacterial strains. Graphical Abstract