Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Applied Nanoscience https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-018-0682-3 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Silver nanoparticles: green synthesis using Phoenix dactylifera fruit extract, characterization, and anti‑oxidant and anti‑microbial activities Anas Ejaz Shaikh 1  · Kshitij Vasant Satardekar 2  · Rummana Rehman Khan 3  · Nanda Amit Tarte 4  · Siddhivinayak Satyasandha Barve 5 Received: 8 October 2017 / Accepted: 12 February 2018 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract Hydro-alcoholic (2:8 v/v) extract of the pulp of Phoenix dactylifera fruit pulp obtained using Soxhlet extraction (70 °C, 6 h) was found to contain alkaloids, sterols, tannins, favonoids, cardiac glycosides, proteins, and carbohydrates. An aqueous solu- tion (20% v/v) of the extract led to the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) from 0.01 M AgNO 3 solution as confrmed by the surface plasmon resonance at 445 nm determined using UV–visible spectroscopy after 24 h. The synthesized AgNPs were found to be mostly spherical and complexed with phytochemicals from the extract. The size of AgNPs ranged from 12.2–140.2 nm with mean diameter of 47.0 nm as characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The elemental composition of the AgNPs complexed with the phytochemicals was found to be 80.49% silver (Ag), 15.21% carbon (C), and 4.30% oxygen (O) on a weight basis by energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Using the α,α-diphenyl-β-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, an anti-oxidant activity of 89.15% for 1 µg L −1 ultrasonically homogenized ethanolic solution of complexed AgNPs was obtained (equivalent to 0.20 mg mL −1 gallic acid solution), while methanolic solution of plant extract possessed an EC 50 value of 3.45% (v/v) (equivalent to 0.11 mg mL −1 gallic acid solution). The plant-nanosilver broth was also found to possess efective anti-microbial activity against Escherichia coli ATCC 8739, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, and Candida albicans ATCC 10231 as assessed by the disc difusion assay. However, the plant extract showed negligible anti- microbial activity. Keywords Silver nanoparticles · Green synthesis · Phoenix dactylifera · Anti-oxidant · Anti-microbial Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-018-0682-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Anas Ejaz Shaikh anass1250@gmail.com Kshitij Vasant Satardekar kvsatardekar@gmail.com Rummana Rehman Khan micro@kelkarresearchcentre.org Nanda Amit Tarte drnanda.tarte@gmail.com Siddhivinayak Satyasandha Barve drssbarve@gmail.com 1 Department of Food Engineering and Technology, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai 400019, Maharashtra, India 2 Animal Biotechnology and Biochemistry Division, Kelkar Education Trust’s Scientifc Research Centre, Mumbai 400081, Maharashtra, India 3 Microbiology and Plant Biotechnology Division, Kelkar Education Trust’s Scientifc Research Centre, Mumbai 400081, Maharashtra, India 4 Department of Biotechnology, Kelkar Education Trust’s V. G. Vaze College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Mumbai 400081, Maharashtra, India 5 Department of Botany, Kelkar Education Trust’s V. G. Vaze College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Mumbai 400081, Maharashtra, India