Biogenic synthesis of silver nanoparticles by Geniotrigona thoracica stingless bee honey and their antibacterial activity

Green nanotechnology has become more popular in making nanoparticles, especially silver nanoparticles, through biological synthesis, as it is an environmental friendly
procedure and reduces time consumption when compare to the chemical and physical synthesis of nanoparticles. In the present study, green synthesis was done by using aqueous solution of Geniotrigona thoracica (G. thoracica) honey and silver nitrate. G. thoracica honey was found to have the potential to be reducing and stabilizing agent.
Effects of incubation period and honey concentration on silver nanoparticles synthesis were assessed by UV-Vis experiments and showed significant higher generation of
silver nanoparticles with increased incubation period and honey concentration. Face centered cubic nanoparticles with 3 nm size were observed through XRD analysis. Functional groups available in G. thoracica honey responsible for capping and stabilizing the silver nanoparticles formed were observed by FTIR analysis. Agar disc diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) tests were done to examine the antibacterial activity of nanoparticles. These nanoparticles showed inhibitory zone against 4 tested bacteria (8.6667 ±0.5775 mm for Escherichia coli, 7.8333 ± 0.2887 mm for Klebsiellea
pneunomiae, 8.1667 ± 0.2887 mm for Bacillus subtilis and 10.1667 ± 0.7638 mm for Staphylococcus aureus). The MIC value of nanoparticles recorded was at 100 μg/mL for all four strains. These results showed a promising potential of G. thoracica honey in silver nanoparticles synthesis for biomedical and nanotechnology applications.