A review on biosynthesis of metal nanoparticles and its environmental applications

Nanotechnology has become one of the emerging multi-disciplinary fields receiving universal attention and playing a substantial role in agriculture, environment and pharmacology. In spite of various techniques employed for nanoparticle synthesis such as laser ablation, mechanical milling, spinning and chemical deposition, usage of hazardous chemicals and expensiveness of the process makes it unsuitable for the continuous production. Hence the necessity of sustainable, economic and environment friendly approach development have increased in recent years. Microbial synthesis of nanoparticles connecting microbiology and nanotechnology is one of the green techniques employed for sustainable production. Gold, silver and other metal nanoparticles like platinum, palladium, molybdenum nanoparticles biosynthesis by bacteria, fungi, yeast and algae have been reported in the present review. On account of microbial rich community, several microbes have been explored for the production of nanoparticles. Nanoparticles are also employed for environmental remediation processes such as pollutant removal and detection of contaminants. Lack of monodispersity and prolonged duration of synthesis are the limitations of bio-synthesis process which can be overcome by optimization of methods of microbial cultivation and its extraction techniques. The current review describes the different microbes involved in the synthesis of nanoparticles and its environmental applications.