Laser liquid ablation for silver nanoparticles synthesis and conjugation with hydroxychloroquine for Covid-19 treatment
Nancy Mwikali Mwenze, Moses Juma, Malik Maaza, Zephania Birech, M.S. Dhlamini
Abstract
Synthesis, characterization, and anchorage studies of pristine silver nanoparticles were achieved. That would later be followed by the conjugation of the synthesized silver nanoparticles with hydroxychloroquine, a compound that is commonly identified as active against plasmodium, a malaria-causing agent. The synthesis of the pristine silver nanoparticles was achieved through laser ablation, a physical method. To achieve different concentrations and sizes of the nanoparticles, various parameters such as time and pulse repetition frequencies were varied. The base medium of the ablation was distilled water of 10 ml for every process of ablation. The laser ablation technique used proved effective in the production of silver nanoparticles spherical in shape and of the size range between 16 nm and 30 nm as deduced from Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) characterization techniques. EDS analysis confirmed the presence of AgNPs in the synthesized solution of silver nanoparticles, while the UV–Vis results showed that the absorption peak of AgNPs occurred at 403 nm. Through these findings, the use of laser ablation, a physical technique in the synthesis of AgNPs, is shown to be cost-effective and environmentally friendly with the properties of the nanoparticles proving to be effective for biomedical applications later in this work.