Habaneros restore shine to silver nanoparticle production

Habanero peppers can do more than burn our mouths and make us sweaty. Their applications extend beyond the culinary world. While their abundance and flavor make them a staple in hot sauces and spicy cuisines, habaneros could also find use for synthesizing silver nanoparticles. With applications in antibacterial coatings for textiles, keyboards, wound dressings, and biomedical devices, silver nanoparticles also have valuable optical properties. These nanomaterials absorb and scatter light well because their surface-conductive electrons collectively oscillate when excited by light at certain wavelengths. Their properties can be altered by controlling their shape and size, which alters the local refractive index near the particle...