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2.2.3.6.2 Biogenesis of nanomaterials
Production of metal nanoparticles can place a burden on the environment through the use of organic solvents which are toxic in the environment. Green production methods look to alternatives that are environmentally benign and often based on plant extracts or biomolecules (such as glucose), for example gold, silver, nickel, cobalt and cobalt-nickel alloy nanoparticles have been synthesised from aqueous salts using reducing extracts from plants and algae[i],[ii]. Taking this a stage further, plants and microbes have been used as “factories” to synthesise nanoparticles of silver using biomineralisation processes. New work has focused on fungi, which synthesise particles outside the cells, facilitating recovery[iii],[iv]. These appear to be stable over periods of weeks and show little aggregation. Other research is looking at manipulating the natural biological processes of different organisms to generate functional nanomaterials, for example diatoms[v].
[i] MURPHY, C. J. (2008) Sustainability as an emerging design criterion in nanoparticle synthesis and applications. Journal of Materials Chemistry, 18, 2173-2176.
[ii] RAMEZANI, N., EHSANFAR, Z., SHAMSA, F., AMIN, G., SHAHVERDI, H. R., ESFAHANI, H. R. M., SHAMSAIE, A., BAZAZ, R. D. & SHAHVERDI, A. R. (2008) Screening of medicinal plant methanol extracts for the synthesis of gold nanoparticles by their reducing potential. Zeitschrift Fur Naturforschung Section B-a Journal of Chemical Sciences, 63, 903-908.
[iii] BASAVARAJA, S., BALAJI, S. D., LAGASHETTY, A., RAJASAB, A. H. & VENKATARAMAN, A. (2008) Extracellular biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles using the fungus Fusarium semitectum. Materials Research Bulletin, 43, 1164-1170.
[iv] MUKHERJEE, P., ROY, M., MANDAL, B. P., DEY, G. K., MUKHERJEE, P. K., GHATAK, J., TYAGI, A. K. & KALE, S. P. (2008) Green synthesis of highly stabilized nanocrystalline silver particles by a non-pathogenic and agriculturally important fungus T-asperellum. Nanotechnology, 19, 7.
[v] KROGER, N. (2007) Prescribing diatom morphology: toward genetic engineering of biological nanomaterials. Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, 11, 662-669.
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Tags: sensor, diagnostic, nano-emulsion, cantilever, nano clay, precision agriculture, pesticide, nanocomposite, biogenesis, quality control