A Critical Review on Biogenic Silver Nanoparticles and their Antimicrobial Activity

The new bio-branch of nanotechnology is considered to be one of the fastest emerging fields often called as Nanobiotechnology. Recent studies on exploitation of the nature's secrets for the synthesis of inorganic materials are relatively new and exciting area of research with considerable potential for development. Among the inorganic materials, noble metals research is been always interesting, silver in particular. Nanoscale silver has been proved to be one of the potential antibacterial, antifungal and anti-inflammatory agents. Biologically synthesized silver nanoparticles can be more effective in the medicinal applications due to their diversified surface coatings (biomaterial). The present review gives an idea about the importance of biogenic metallic silver nanoparticles, their characterization and potential antimicrobial properties.