Evaluation of alanine-silver nanocomposites from biosynthesized silver nanoparticles

ANGELA JOYCE T. LOOT, MCXEL S. NUNAG, RASHEEN C. RABINO, and ARIS C. LARRODER
Philippine Science High School – Western Visayas Campus, Brgy. Bito-on, Jaro, Iloilo City 5000, Department of Science and Technology – Science Education Institute, Philippines


Abstract
Exposure to ionizing radiation damages the genetic material of living cells which may eventually become cancerous. Alanine- silver nanocomposites have recently been developed as a liquid detector for radiation dosimetry purposes. Despite this application, none have so far investigated the use of iosynthesized silver nanoparticles in the synthesis of alanine-silver nanocomposites. This study aimed to spectrophotometrically evaluate the interaction of biosynthesized silver nanoparticles and alanine in the formation of alanine-silver nanocomposites. The formation of silver nanoparticles was confirmed by ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The absorbance level of the alanine-silver nanocomposite solution was determined using UV-Vis spectroscopy. It was observed that the silver nanoparticles formed were spherical with a mean size of 27 nm. The interaction of alanine with silver nanoparticles yielded no visible color change. However, a trend of increasing absorbance level was observed. In conclusion, biosynthesized silver nanoparticles can be possibly used in the synthesis of alanine-silver nanocomposites. Further investigation on the effect of alanine to the size and morphology of silver nanoparticles is recommended.

Keywords: nanocomposite, biosynthesis, uv-vis spectroscopy, alanine, radiation dosimetry