Silver nanoparticle-decorated silver nanowires: a nanocomposite via green synthesis

This study reports an ecological approach for the synthesis of silver nanowires (AgNW) decorated with silver nanoparticles (AgNP) using Mangifera indica leaf extract. A composite material of AgNW with a length of more than 10 μm and a diameter of ~ 70 nm was obtained, surrounded by AgNP with sizes less than 10 nm. The material obtained was characterized using UV–Vis spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray energy dispersive spectrometry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The crystallinity of the nanoparticles was analyzed with high-resolution HRTEM images and with the SAED diffraction pattern, identifying crystalline planes (111), (200), (220), (311) and (222) corresponding to silver. Additionally, in the theoretical study, the adsorption energy (Eads) was analyzed from the interaction of the Ag2 clusters close to cross-sections of different sizes of AgNW in the presence of the glycine molecule. This analysis was made using the theories of Hartree Fock and DFT. On the other hand, the material obtained showed excellent antibacterial activity against the bacterium Escherichia coli, inhibiting the growth of the microorganism by 99.95%. According to our knowledge, this would be the first report where this type of nanocomposite is obtained through green synthesis, in the same colloidal medium, without the need to apply different methodologies to obtain any of the individual nanostructures mentioned separately.