Eco-friendly green synthesis of Ag@Cu bimetallic nanoparticles: Evaluation of their structural, morphological and electrochemical characterizations

Abstract

The present study focuses on the preparation of silver/copper bimetallic hybrid nanoparticles by green method from precursor solutions of silver nitrate & copper nitrate and the locally available citrus fruit (lemon) peel extract which behaves as the stabilizing and reducing agent. Initially, the formation of hybrid nanoparticles was noticed in the reaction mixture by colour change. Here, UV-Visible spectroscopy is useful to examine the optical measurements of the prepared nanoparticles and it exhibited the maximum absorption wavelength for lemon peel extract at 440 nm. Later, the functional groups present in the synthesized nanoparticles are investigated by FT-IR spectroscopy. In addition, the pure and crystalline nature of developed nanoparticles was evaluated by XRD measurements. The spherical shape of produced bimetallic hybrid nanoparticles was observed by SEM analysis. The elemental composition of the synthesized nanoparticles was investigated by EDX analysis. Furthermore, electrochemical evaluation of synthesized nanoparticles by usage of CV (cyclic voltammetry) exhibited that Ag@Cu bimetallic NPs were highly electroactive than other electrodes. Thus, this newly approached method is simple, rapid, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly and this green method proves an alternative to physiochemical methods for the preparation of nanoparticles.