GREEN SYNTHESIS OF IRON NANOPARTICLES USING PLANT EXTRACTS
Iron nanoparticles (Fe NPs) are gaining importance for their uses in environmental remediation technologies. In the present investigation Fe NPs were synthesized by green route using extracts of different parts of plants like Euphorbia milii, Tridax procumbens, Tinospora cordifolia, Datura innoxia, Calotropis procera and Cymbopogon citratus (lemon grass tea). Fe NPs were generated by reaction of ferric chloride (FeCl3) solution with plant extracts. The reductants present in the plant extracts act as reducing and stabilizing agent. The sizes of NPs were measured using dynamic light scattering (Malvern Zetasizer). Synthesized nanoparticles were characterized using particle size analyzer, UV-vis absorption spectrophotometer, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Dispersion destabilization of NPs was detected by Turbiscan. Fe NPs synthesized from the stem extracts of Euphorbia milii, Tridax procumbens and flower extracts of Tinospora cordifolia was found to be of considerable low size and that produced from the stem extracts of Euphorbia milii was of the least size ranging from 13-21nm . These ecofriendly, cost effective, stable nanoparticles synthesized from plants can therefore be used as an economic and valuable alternative for the large-scale production of Iron nanoparticles