Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Jan 6;15(2):427.
doi: 10.3390/ma15020427.

Synthesis, Characterization and Biomedical Application of Silver Nanoparticles

Affiliations
Review

Synthesis, Characterization and Biomedical Application of Silver Nanoparticles

Ashwini Naganthran et al. Materials (Basel). .

Abstract

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been employed in various fields of biotechnology due to their proven properties as an antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal agent. AgNPs are generally synthesized through chemical, physical and biological approaches involving a myriad of methods. As each approach confers unique advantages and challenges, a trends analysis of literature for the AgNPs synthesis using different types of synthesis were also reviewed through a bibliometric approach. A sum of 10,278 publications were analyzed on the annual numbers of publication relating to AgNPs and biological, chemical or physical synthesis from 2010 to 2020 using Microsoft Excel applied to the Scopus publication database. Furthermore, another bibliometric clustering and mapping software were used to study the occurrences of author keywords on the biomedical applications of biosynthesized AgNPs and a total collection of 224 documents were found, sourced from articles, reviews, book chapters, conference papers and reviews. AgNPs provides an excellent, dependable, and effective solution for seven major concerns: as antibacterial, antiviral, anticancer, bone healing, bone cement, dental applications and wound healing. In recent years, AgNPs have been employed in biomedical sector due to their antibacterial, antiviral and anticancer properties. This review discussed on the types of synthesis, how AgNPs are characterized and their applications in biomedical field.

Keywords: AgNPs; action mechanism; biological; biomedical applications; biomedical properties of AgNPs; chemical; design and synthesis methods of silver nanoparticles; physical.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Synthesis of AgNPs.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Annual numbers of publications relating to the search terms “Silver nanoparticles” and “Biological/Chemical/Physical” in the Scopus publication database between 2010 and 2020 (English language only).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Research trend clusters mapping. (a) Network visualization of author keywords co-occurrences (b) Network visualization of author’s keywords cluster analysis across the annual average publications on the biomedical applications of AgNPs published between 2010 and 2020. Abbreviations: Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD).
Figure 4
Figure 4
The advantages and disadvantages of three types of synthesis (adapted from Mukherjee and Patra, [38], Simões et al. [39] and Xu et al. [4]).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Biomolecules in flower extracts of Ixora coccinea involved in the synthesis of AgNPs.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Overview of steps of synthesize mediated by plant or plant extract (adapted from Nadeem et al. [176]).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Overview of steps of synthesize mediated by algae extract (adapted from Vincy et al. [202]).
Figure 8
Figure 8
Methods of characterization of biosynthesized AgNPs.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Applications of AgNPs in Biomedical Applications.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Formation of biofilm and AgNPs application (adapted from [245]).
Figure 11
Figure 11
The possible mechanism (ROS activation) towards gram-positive and gram-negative (adapted from Pandey et al. [248]).
Figure 12
Figure 12
The antiviral activities of AgNPs [273].

References

    1. Uthaman A., Lal H., Thomas S. Fundamentals of Silver Nanoparticles and Their Toxicological Aspects. In: Lal H.M., Thomas S., Li T., Maria H.J., editors. Polymer Nanocomposites Based on Silver Nanoparticles. Engineering Materials. Springer; Cham, Switzerland: 2021. pp. 1–24. - DOI
    1. Dikshit P.K., Kumar J., Das A.K., Sadhu S., Sharma S., Singh S., Gupta P.K., Kim B.S. Green synthesis of metallic nanoparticles: Applications and limitations. Catalysts. 2021;11:902. doi: 10.3390/catal11080902. - DOI
    1. De Silva C., Mohammad Nawawi N., Abd Karim M.M., Abd Gani S., Masarudin M.J., Gunasekaran B., Ahmad S.A. The mechanistic action of biosynthesised silver nanoparticles and its application in aquaculture and livestock, industries. Animals. 2021;11:2097. doi: 10.3390/ani11072097. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Xu L., Wang Y.Y., Huang J., Chen C.Y., Wang Z.X., Xie H. Silver nanoparticles: Synthesis, medical applications and biosafety. Theranostics. 2020;10:8996–9031. doi: 10.7150/thno.45413. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Anand R., Bhagat M. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs): As nanopesticides and nanofertilizers. MOJ Biol. Med. 2019;4:19–20. doi: 10.15406/mojbm.2019.04.00107. - DOI