Abstract
Over the past few decades, the synthesis and potential applications of nanocatalysts have received great attention from the scientific community. Many well-established methods are extensively utilized for the synthesis of nanocatalysts. However, most conventional physical and chemical methods have some drawbacks, such as the toxicity of precursor materials, the requirement of high-temperature environments, and the high cost of synthesis, which ultimately hinder their fruitful applications in various fields. Bioinspired synthesis is eco-friendly, cost-effective, and requires a low energy/temperature ambient. Various microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, and algae are used as nano-factories and can provide a novel method for the synthesis of different types of nanocatalysts. The synthesized nanocatalysts can be further utilized in various applications such as the removal of heavy metals, treatment of industrial effluents, fabrication of materials with unique properties, biomedical, and biosensors. This review focuses on the biogenic synthesis of nanocatalysts from various green sources that have been adopted in the past two decades, and their potential applications in different areas. This review is expected to provide a valuable guideline for the biogenic synthesis of nanocatalysts and their concomitant applications in various fields.
Highlights
Various bacterial and fungal species have been used for the synthesis of nanoparticles, and these synthesized nanocatalysts can be further used for the degradation of dyes (Table 4)
The biological method offers a rigid control on the synthesized particles size and uniform shape, while the physical characteristics are retained at the same level as physical and chemical methods
Synthesized nanomaterials are more prepared for biomedical application because of their lower toxicity
Summary
Chemical synthesis has proved to be useful and can be used for a long time, but they have certain demerits such as the aggregation of particles when allowed to react for a long time, instability of the final product, and improper control of crystal growth [7] This method is not environmentally friendly, as a lot of toxic wastes and pollutants are generated as by-products. Metal/metal oxide nanoparticles include silver, copper, gold, titanium oxide, iron oxide, and zinc oxide [11] They can be synthesized by chemical, physical, electrochemical, or photochemical approaches. In this review, an overview of different methods of synthesis, and the use of various biological agents such as algae, fungi, Catalysts 2021, 11, 1494 and bacteria, which are used for the synthesis of metal/metal oxide nanocatalysts, is discussed. Further discussion of the application of nanocatalysts in different sectors is conducted
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