Eco-Friendly Synthesis of Palladium Nanoparticles Using Melia azedarach Leaf Extract and Their Evaluation for Antimicrobial and Larvicidal Activities

We describe a simple approach for the synthesis of palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs) using Melia azedarach leaf extract. The synthesized Pd NPs were confirmed by UV-Visible spectroscopy, FT-IR, XRD and TEM analysis. UV-Visible spectra clearly showed the absorption peak at 280 nm, which is due to the surface plasmon resonance on Pd NPs. XRD analysis exhibit the crystalline nature of Pd NPs with face centered cubic structure. The TEM images clearly showed the spherical shape with average particles size in the range from 10 to 20 nm. The synthesized Pd NPs were investigated by antibacterial, antifungal and larvicidal activities. Different treatments of Pd NPs exhibit better activity in gram positive and gram negative bacterial strains. By contrast, antifungal activity of Pd NPs has not showed any significant activity due to its nontoxicity. The evaluation of larvicidal activity, the maximum efficacy was observed in synthesized Pd NPs against the larvae of Aedes aegypti (LC50 = 27.36%; LC90 52.50%) and M. azedarach leaf extract for (LC50 = 93.96%; LC90 182.63%), respectively. The synthesis of Pd NPs by this method offers the rapid, facile, nontoxic, single step method and control the larval population of the mosquito vector.