A simple approach for facile synthesis of Ag, anisotropic Au and bimetallic (Ag/Au) nanoparticles using cruciferous vegetable extracts.

We present a simple and straightforward approach for the synthesis and stabilization of relatively monodisperse Ag, Au and bimetallic (Ag/Au) nanoparticles by using cruciferous vegetable (green/red) extracts by simply adjusting the pH environment in the aqueous medium. The vegetable extracts act both as reducing and capping agents. The monometallic and bimetallic nanoparticles of Ag and Au so obtained were characterized by UV-visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It is shown that red cabbage extract can be used for the preparation of anisotropic Au nanoparticles. The formation of Au anisotropic nanoparticles was found to depend on a number of environmental factors, such as the pH of the reaction medium, reaction time, and initial reactant concentrations. Additionally, it is shown that these extract-stabilized Au and Ag nanoparticles can be used as a seed for preparation of bimetallic Au/Ag nanoparticles. For bimetallic alloy nanoparticles the absorption peak was observed between the two maxima of the corresponding metallic particles. The surface plasmon absorption maxima for bimetallic nanoparticles changed linearly with increasing Au mole ratio content in various alloy compositions. It has been shown that the formation of hollow Au spheres depends on the experimental conditions.