Medicinal Plant Extract Mediated Green Synthesis of Metallic Nanoparticles: A Review

Abstract

The use of medicinal plant resources in the biosynthesis of metallic nanoparticles (MNPs) is remarkable in nanobiotechnology for its unique physicochemical and biological properties such as morphological diversity, large surface area by volume proportion, conductivity, stability, dispersity, and toxicity to microbes, or cancerous cells. Active phytochemicals or bioactive compounds in various medicinal plants such as flavonoids, phenolic acids, terpenoids, steroids, ascorbic acids etc. are capable of the bio-fabrication of various MNPs during the green synthesis. The biosynthesis method has a great potential to improve the manufacture of nanoparticles (NPs) without using any harmful and costly materials or chemicals that have been widely used in other traditional processes. The present review aims to describe the biosynthesis of metallic NPs using medicinal plant extract as a reducing and stabilizing agent. This review also focuses on the current state of various characterization techniques and basic features of various NPs and explores their possible uses in various biomedical sectors shortly.