| Summary: | Metallic nanoparticles are well known of having wide applications in various fields such as, catalysis, electronics, energy, chemistry and medicine due to its unique physico-chemical properties. In this study, nanocatalyst Kyllinga brevifolia-mediated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were prepared by reduction of silver nitrate using aqueous extract of Kyllinga brevifolia at different temperature. The formations of AgNPs were monitored using UV-visible spectroscopy. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) results reveal that the AgNPs well dispersed with average particle size are 22.34 and 6.73 nm for synthesized at room temperature and cold temperature respectively. The biomolecules present in the Kyllinga brevifolia aqueous extract responsible for the formation of AgNPs were identified using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). Our AgNPs performed excellent catalytic activity in degradation of methylene blue (MB) dyes via electron relay effect. MB is toxic to ecological system and also has carcinogenic properties. The AgNPs nanocatalysts synthesized in this study are highly dispersed, quasi-spherical and due to their size in nanoscale, they have shown effectiveness for degradation of MB dyes. More importantly, our AgNPs were prepared using biomolecules as capping and reducing agent, which make our product "greener" than available AgNPs that are commonly prepared using hydrazine and borohydride; which are harmful substances to human and environment. Not only the AgNPs can act as nanocatalyst for degradation of MB, they can also be expected to degrade other types of toxic dyes used in textiles industry. © 2017 Author(s).
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