Physico-chemical metallic nanoparticles for industrial applications

Metallic nanoparticles are produced by various methods, the more common ones being chemical and physical methods. The aforesaid methods produce pure and well-defined nanoparticles, but the chemicals used in the synthesis are toxic, energy-consuming, expensive, and not suitable for biological applications. The syntheses of metal nanoparticles are covered in the past three decades, but research plant extract-based nano synthesis mushroomed only in the last decade. Synthesis of nanoparticles using algae can be performed in three important steps, (1) preparation of algal extract in water or in an organic solvent by heating or boiling it for a certain duration, (2) preparation of molar solutions of ionic metallic compounds and (3) incubation of algal solutions and molar solutions of ionic metallic compounds followed either by continuous stirring or without stirring for a certain duration under controlled conditions. An important aspect of nanobiotechnology is to design economical and eco-friendly technique for the synthesis of nanomaterials and advancing the use of nanotechnology-based materials in different applications.