Extracellular synthesis of mycogenic silver nanoparticles by Cylindrocladium floridanum and its homogeneous catalytic degradation of 4-nitrophenol

Biosynthesis of Gold and Silver Nanoparticles Using Phytochemical Compounds

Gold and silver nanoparticles are nanoparticles that have been widely used in various fields and have shown good benefits. The method of nanoparticle biosynthesis utilizing plant extracts, also known as green synthesis, has become a promising method considering the advantages it has compared to other synthesis methods. This review aims to give an overview of the phytochemical compounds in plants used in the synthesis of gold and silver nanoparticles, the nanoparticle properties produced using plant extracts based on the concentration and structure of phytochemical compounds, and their applications. Phytochemical compounds play an important role as reducing agents and stabilizers in the stages of the synthesis of nanoparticles. Polyphenol compounds, reducing sugars, and proteins are the main phytochemical compounds that are responsible for the synthesis of gold and silver nanoparticles. The concentration of phytochemical compounds affects the physical properties, stability, and activity of nanoparticles. This is important to know to be able to overcome limitations in controlling the physical properties of the nanoparticles produced. Based on structure, the phytochemical compounds that have ortho-substituted hydroxyl result in a smaller size and well-defined shape, which can lead to greater activity and stability. Furthermore, the optimal condition of the biosynthesis process is required to gain a successful reaction that includes setting the metal ion concentration, temperature, reaction time, and pH.

Isotropic Silver Nanoparticles from Cytobacillus kochii Strain SW6 Isolated from Bay of Bengal Sea Sediment Water and Their Antimicrobial, Antioxidant, and Catalytic Potential

Green synthesis of nanoparticles provides numerous advantages over physical and chemical methods because of low toxicity, high yields, cost-effectiveness, environmentally benign, and energy efficiency. Therefore, we focused on the facile and green synthesis of isotropic silver nanoparticles using the metabolic extract of Cytobacillus kochii. During synthesis, the physicochemical parameters were optimized and validated using the response surface methodology statistical tool. The presence of potent bioactive compounds that aid in the biofabrication of nanoparticles was identified in the gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy analysis and the synthesis was confirmed by surface plasmon resonance peak at 420 nm. Characterization of nanoparticles was performed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, and X-ray diffraction. The synthesized nanoparticles showed potent antioxidant properties and displayed an excellent catalytic reduction potential in the degradation of hazardous dyes, such as methylene blue, phenol red, and 4-nitrophenol. Furthermore, compared to the chemically synthesized silver nanoparticles and crude extract, the biogenic silver nanoparticles exhibited a broad-spectrum antimicrobial potential. Our results demonstrate that the reported silver nanoparticles with unique characteristics might be of great promise as biomedical and catalytic agents for industrial applications.

Reduction of 4-nitrophenol using green-fabricated metal nanoparticles

Noble metal (silver (Ag), gold (Au), platinum (Pt), and palladium (Pd)) nanoparticles have gained increasing attention due to their importance in several research fields such as environmental and medical research. This review focuses on the basic perceptions of the green synthesis of metal nanoparticles and their supported-catalyst-based reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) to 4-aminophenol (4-AP). The mechanisms for the formation of these nanoparticles and the catalytic reduction of 4-NP are discussed. Furthermore, the parameters that need to be considered in the catalytic efficiency calculations and perspectives for future studies are also discussed.

Noble metal (silver (Ag), gold (Au), platinum (Pt), and palladium (Pd)) nanoparticles have gained increasing attention due to their importance in several research fields such as environmental and medical research.

Trends in microbial degradation and bioremediation of emerging contaminants

Modernization and modern ways of living demands more improved products from pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and food processing industries. Moreover, industries like pesticides, fertilizers, dyeing, paints, detergent etc., also needs improvised products as per demand. As the new product emerges, the pollutants from these industries also constitute new type of danger to the environment and serious health risks to the living organisms. These emerging contaminants (ECs) are from different category of sources such as personal care products (PCPs), pharmaceuticals (Phcs), endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), etc. These ECs can easily escape from the conventional water treatment and eventually get discharged in to the surface water and thus enters in to the ground water, soil, sediments, and also into the oceans. When these contaminants emerge we also require progress in tremendous process for preventing these hazardous chemicals by effective removal and treatment. For the past 50 years, both developed and developing countries are working on this treatment process and found that Microbial degradation and bioremediation are very useful for effective treatment to prevent their emissions. This treatment can be designed for any sort of ECs since the microbial members are so versatile to redesign their metabolic pathways when subject to exposure. However, implementing bioremediation is not alone efficient to degrade ECs and hence, combination of bioremediation, nanotechnology and physical treatment method will also provide sustainable, potent and fast degradation process. In this Book Chapter, we discuss in detail about the ECs, sources of microbial degradation process and its usefulness in the bioremediation of these ECs.

Preparation of Silver Nanoparticles in a Plasma-Liquid System in the Presence of PVA: Antimicrobial, Catalytic, and Sensing Properties

The preparation of stabilized silver nanodispersions under the action of short-term plasma discharge using a polyvinyl alcohol stabilizer (polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)) was investigated. The influence of the basic technological parameters such as initial Ag+ concentration, PVA concentration, and process duration on the formation of nanoparticles and their characteristics (size and stability) were determined. The UV-Vis spectra showed the localized surface plasmon resonance at wavelengths of 400–420 nm. The SEM images showed that the shape of Ag NPs is spherical with an average particle size up to 30 nm. Ag NPs were used as a catalyst for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP). The effect of the concentration of PNP and catalyst dosage on the value of apparent rate constant (kapp) for catalytic reduction of 4-NP in the presence of Ag NPs was investigated by means of UV-Vis spectrophotometry. The antimicrobial activity of Ag nanoparticles was investigated against yeast and Escherichia coli. The colorimetric sensor studies of plasma synthesized Ag NPs showed selective sensing of the potentially hazardous Hg2+ ion in water.

Biogenic FeS promotes dechlorination and thus de-cytotoxity of trichloroethylene

Abiotic iron monosulfide (FeS) has attracted growing interests in dechlorinating trichloroethylene (TCE) in anoxic groundwater, but it is still unclear how biogenic FeS affects the dechlorination and thus the cytotoxity of TCE. In this work, a biogenic FeS was synthesized by Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 with addition of ferrihydrite and S⁰, and it was used for dechlorination of TCE in alkaline environment and the de-cytotoxicity was evaluated by the growth of Synechocystis sp. PCC6803. The results show that the biogenic FeS was of mackinawite, with a loose flower-like mosaic structure. The dechlorination of TCE by the biogenic FeS was accelerated by 6 times than that by abiotic FeS. TCE was dechlorinated mainly by hydrogenolysis to form dichloroethane (C₂H₂Cl₂), vinyl chloride (C₂H₃Cl), and finally ethylene, accompanied with transformation of both Fe²⁺ to Fe³⁺ and monosulfide to disulfide and polysulfide on the biogenic FeS surface. The concentration for 50% of maximal inhibition effect (EC₅₀) of TCE to Synechocystis was 486 mg/L and the inhibition to Synechocystis under the EC₅₀ was relieved more significantly on addition of the biogenic FeS than that of abiotic FeS. These results indicate that the biogenic FeS promoted the dechlorination and thus de-cytotoxity of TCE.

Overview of microbes based fabricated biogenic nanoparticles for water and wastewater treatment

Treatment of toxic and emerging pollutants (T&EPs) is increasing the threats to the survival of conventional wastewater treatment (WWTs) technologies. The high installation and operational costs of advanced treatment technologies have shifted the research interest to the development of economical and reliable technology for management of T&EPs. Thus, recently biogenic nanoparticles (BNPs) fabricated using microbes/microorganisms are getting tremendous research interest due to their unique properties (i.e. high specific surface area, desired morphology, catalytic reactivity) for the biodegradation and biosorption of T&EPs. In addition, BNPs can be manufactured using metal contaminated water which indicates a hidden potential for resource recovery and utilization. Therefore, the present study discusses the adsorptive and catalytic performance of BNPs in the removal of T&EPs from water (W) and wastewater (WW). In addition, inspired by the superior performance of BNPs in advance WWT, a model of BNPs based WWT resource recovery and utilization process is also proposed. Finally, main issues i.e. mass production, leaching, poisoning/toxicity, regeneration, reusability and fabrication costs and process optimization are discussed which are main hinders in the transfer of BNPs based WWT technologies from laboratory to commercial scale.

From biotechnology principles to functional and low-cost metallic bionanocatalysts

Chemical, physical and mechanical methods of nanomaterial preparation are still regarded as mainstream methods, and the scientific community continues to search for new ways of nanomaterial preparation. The major objective of this review is to highlight the advantages of using green chemistry and bionanotechnology in the preparation of functional low-cost catalysts. Bionanotechnology employs biological principles and processes connected with bio-phase participation in both design and development of nano-structures and nano-materials, and the biosynthesis of metallic nanoparticles is becoming even more popular due to; (i) economic and ecologic effectiveness, (ii) simple one-step nanoparticle formation, stabilisation and biomass support and (iii) the possibility of bio-waste valorisation. Although it is quite difficult to determine the precise mechanisms in particular biosynthesis and research is performed with some risk in all trial and error experiments, there is also the incentive of understanding the exact mechanisms involved. This enables further optimisation of bionanoparticle preparation and increases their application potential. Moreover, it is very important in bionanotechnological procedures to ensure repeatability of the methods related to the recognised reaction mechanisms. This review, therefore, summarises the current state of nanoparticle biosynthesis. It then demonstrates the application of biosynthesised metallic nanoparticles in heterogeneous catalysis by identifying the many examples where bionanocatalysts have been successfully applied in model reactions. These describe the degradation of organic dyes, the reduction of aromatic nitro compounds, dehalogenation of chlorinated aromatic compounds, reduction of Cr(VI) and the synthesis of important commercial chemicals. To ensure sustainability, it is important to focus on nanomaterials that are capable of maintaining the important green chemistry principles directly from design inception to ultimate application.

Biogenic synthesis of multifunctional silver nanoparticles from Rhodotorula glutinis and Rhodotorula mucilaginosa: antifungal, catalytic and cytotoxicity activities

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have several technological applications and may be synthetized by chemical, physical and biological methods. Biosynthesis using fungi has a wide enzymatic range and it is easy to handle. However, there are few reports of yeasts with biosynthetic ability to produce stable AgNPs. The purpose of this study was to isolate and identify soil yeasts (Rhodotorula glutinis and Rhodotorula mucilaginosa). After this step, the yeasts were used to obtain AgNPs with catalytic and antifungal activity evaluation. Silver Nanoparticles were characterized by UV-Vis, DLS, FTIR, XRD, EDX, SEM, TEM and AFM. The AgNPs produced by R. glutinis and R. mucilaginosa have 15.45 ± 7.94 nm and 13.70 ± 8.21 nm (average ± SD), respectively, when analyzed by TEM. AgNPs showed high catalytic capacity in the degradation of 4-nitrophenol and methylene blue. In addition, AgNPs showed high antifungal activity against Candida parapsilosis and increase the activity of fluconazole (42.2% for R. glutinis and 29.7% for R. mucilaginosa), while the cytotoxicity of AgNPs was only observed at high concentrations. Finally, two yeasts with the ability to produce AgNPs were described and these particles showed multifunctionality and can represent a technological alternative in many different areas with potential applications.

Dual-crosslinked poly(vinyl alcohol)/sodium alginate/silver nanocomposite beads - A promising antimicrobial material

In this paper, we report the immobilization of borate-stabilized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) as nanofillers in dual-crosslinked polymers comprised of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and sodium alginate (SA) at different ratios. Ionic-crosslinking using Ca²⁺ ions and physical-crosslinking by freeze-thawing were used to entrap silver nanoparticles in the prepared PVA/SA/AgNPs nanocomposite beads. These polymeric nanocomposites were characterized by UV-Vis, XRD, FE-SEM, FT-IR, TGA, and using rheological and swelling properties. The antibacterial activities of these PVA/SA/AgNPs nanocomposites were evaluated against Escherichia coli O157: H7, which causes escherichiosis through contaminated food and water. The results obtained indicated that PVA/SA/AgNPs nanocomposite formed with a ratio 10/90 of PVA to SA (formulation F5) exhibited high bactericidal activity, with entrapment of AgNPs and had excellent rheological and thermal stabilities. Due to the low cost and effectiveness of these antimicrobial nanocomposites, they have potential as an active food-packaging material for food safety and to extend shelf-life of packaged foods.

Colorimetric detection of manganese(II) ions using gold/dopa nanoparticles

We report here a one-pot, greener, eco-friendly strategy for the synthesis of gold nanoparticles using L-dopa. The as-prepared dopa-functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs/dopa) can detect low concentrations of manganese(II) metal ions in aqueous solution. The binding forces between dopa and Mn(2+) ions cause dopa-functionalized gold nanoparticles to come closer together, decreasing the interparticle distance and aggregating it with a change in color of colloidal solution from red to purplish-blue. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis showed a decreased surface charge on the surface of gold nanoparticles when exposed to Mn(2+) ions, which caused cross-linking aggregation. Transmission electron microscopic (TEM) images also revealed the aggregation of gold nanoparticles with the addition of Mn(2+) ions. The extinction ratio of absorbance at 700-550nm (A700/A550) was linear against the concentration of [Mn(2+)] ions. Thus, the optical absorption spectra of gold colloidal solution before and after the addition of Mn(2+) ions reveal the concentration of Mn(2+) ions in solution.