Research Article Facile Precursor for Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles Using Alkali Treated Maize Starch M. H. El-Rafie, 1 Hanan B. Ahmed, 2 and M. K. Zahran 2 1 Textile Research Division, National Research Centre, Dokki, Cairo 12311, Egypt 2 Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Helwan University, Ain Helwan, Cairo 11795, Egypt Correspondence should be addressed to Hanan B. Ahmed; hananbasiony@gmail.com Received 16 March 2014; Accepted 20 September 2014; Published 29 October 2014 Academic Editor: Mohammad A. Behnajady Copyright © 2014 M. H. El-Raie et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Silver nanoparticles were prepared by using alkali treated maize starch which plays a dual role as reducer for AgNO 3 and stabilizer for the produced AgNPs. he redox reaction which takes a place between AgNO 3 and alkali treated starch was followed up and controlled in order to obtain spherical shaped silver nanoparticles with mean size 4–6nm. he redox potentials conirmed the principle role of alkali treatment in increasing the reducibility of starch macromolecules. he measurements of reducing sugars at the end of reaction using dinitrosalicylic acid reagent (DNS) were carried out in order to control the chemical reduction reaction. he UV/Vis spectra show that an absorption peak, occurring due to surface plasmon resonance (SPR), exists at 410 nm, which is characteristic to yellow color of silver nanoparticles solution. he samples have been characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), which reveal the nanonature of the particles. 1. Introduction Noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) are envisaged to provide solutions to optical, electronic, biotechnological, and envi- ronmental challenges in the areas of solar energy conversion, catalysis, medicine, and water treatment [1]. Kamat also conirmed that size, shape, and surface morphology play pivotal roles in controlling the physical, chemical, optical, and electronic properties of these nanoscopic materials [2]. When macroscaled counterparts of nanometals are compared with that of metal ions, they oten show unique and considerably changed physical, chemical, and biological properties [3]. Also a fact has been established that the size, morphology, stability, and physicochemical properties of the metal NPs are strongly inluenced by the experimental conditions, the kinetics of interaction of metal ions with reducing agents, and adsorption processes of stabilizing agent with metal NPs [4, 5]. hus, the synthesis of noble metal NPs for various novel applications has become a major ield of research interest [6]. Colloidal solutions of silver nanometals have been par- ticularly studied because of their characteristic properties, such as catalytic ability, antibacterial activity, good conduc- tivity, and chemical stability [7]. Chemical reduction by the colloidal route is the most frequently applied method for the preparation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) due to the stable colloidal dispersions in water or in organic solvents [8, 9] and via microemulsion [10], polymer protection methods [11, 12], carbon nanotube [13], coprecipitation [13, 14], liquid crystals [15], biological macromolecules [16, 17], latex particles [18], dendrimers [19–21], microgels, and hydrogels [22, 23]. Also some commonly chemical reductants are used for preparation of nanosilver like borohydride, ascorbate, hydrazine, and elemental hydrogen [24–30]. Schneider et al. indicated that using of a strong reductant such as borohydride resulted in small particles that were somewhat monodispersed, but the generation of larger par- ticles was diicult to control. However, using of a weaker reductant such as citrate, resulted in a slower reduction rate [8, 9]. It could be suggested that the high surface energy of these particles may make them extremely reactive, and most systems undergo aggregation without protection or passivation of their surfaces [31–35]. hus, it could be conirmed that NPs synthesis not only requires a reductant, but also requires the presence of stabilizer. Some of the commonly used methods for surface passivation include protection by self-assembled Hindawi Publishing Corporation International Scholarly Research Notices Volume 2014, Article ID 702396, 12 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/702396