Green synthesis of titanium dioxide nanoparticles using Psidium guajava extract and its antibacterial and antioxidant properties

OBJECTIVE: To determine the efficacies of antibacterial and antioxidant activities of aqueous leaf extract of Psidium guajava mediated biosynthesis of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs). METHODS: Synthesized TiO2 NPs were tested by disc diffusion method against against human pathogenic bacteria. The total antioxidant activity and phenolic content (Folin-Ciocalteau method) of synthesized TiO2 NPs and aqueous plant extract were determined. The scavenging radicals were estimated by DPPH method. The synthesized TiO2 NPs were characterized by XRD, FTIR, FESEM and EDX. RESULTS: FTIR spectra of synthesized TiO2 NPs exhibited prominent peaks at 3 410 cm(-1) (alkynes), 1 578 cm(-1), 1 451 cm(-1) (alkanes), and 1 123 cm(-1)(C-O absorption). The morphological characterization of synthesized TiO2 NPs was analysed by FESEM which showed spherical shape and clusters with an average size of 32.58 nm. The maximum zone of inhibition was observed in the synthesized TiO2 NPs (20 μg/mL) against Staphylococcus aureus (25 mm) and Escherichia coli (23 mm). The synthesized TiO2 NPs showed more antibacterial activity than the standard antibiotic disk, tetracycline which drastically reduces the chances for the development of antibiotics resistance of bacterial species. The plant aqueous extract and synthesized TiO2 NPs were found to possess maximum antioxidant activity when compared with ascorbic acid. The content of phenolic compounds (mg/g) in leaf aqueous extract and synthesized TiO2 NPs were found to be 85.4 and 18.3 mgTA/g, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Green synthesized TiO2 NPs provides a promising approach can satisfy the requirement of large-scale industrial production bearing the advantage of low-cost, eco-friendly and reproducible.