Abstract
Metal and metalloid nanoparticles (NPs) have attracted substantial attention from research communities over the past few decades. Traditional methodologies for NP fabrication have also been intensely explored. However, drawbacks such as the use of toxic agents and the high energy consumption involved in chemical and physical processes hinder their further application in various fields. It is well known that some bacteria are capable of binding and concentrating dissolved metal and metalloid ions, thereby detoxifying their environments. Bioinspired fabrication of NPs is environmentally friendly and inexpensive and requires only low energy consumption. Some biosynthesized NPs are usually used as heterogeneous catalysts in environmental remediation and show higher catalytic efficiency because of their enhanced biocompatibility, stability and large specific surface areas. Therefore, bacteria used as nanofactories can provide a novel approach for removing metal or metalloid ions and fabricating materials with unique properties. Even though a wide range of NPs have been biosynthesized, and their synthetic mechanisms have been proposed, some of these mechanisms are not known in detail. This review focuses on the synthesis and catalytic applications of NPs obtained using bacteria. The known mechanisms of bioreduction and prospects in the design of NPs for catalytic applications are also discussed.
Highlights
Metal and metalloid NPs have shown some unique properties in many fields, such as catalysis, antimicrobial activity, drug delivery, cancer treatment, medical diagnostics, and nanosensors [1,2,3,4,5,6].An increasing intense research effort has been devoted to metal and metalloid NPs in recent years.The conventional physical and chemical methods that are currently used to synthesize NPs have been developed over many years
Hypotheses based on the experimental phenomena have been proposed to provide insight into the fabrication process of the biosynthesized NPs by the bacteria
The biosynthesized NPs were obtained without high-temperature treatments or additional chemicals, and have shown many unique properties, such as catalytic applications, optical applications, aerospace applications, biosensors and gas sensors
Summary
Metal and metalloid NPs have shown some unique properties in many fields, such as catalysis, antimicrobial activity, drug delivery, cancer treatment, medical diagnostics, and nanosensors [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Date, many studies of the biosynthesis of NPs by bacteria, including elementary substances. ToTo date, many studies of the biosynthesis of NPs by bacteria, including elementary substances and compounds (as shown in Figure 1a), have been reported in the literature [19]. The mainstream view is that metal and metalloid metalloid NPs can be fabricated both intracellularly and extracellularly by bacteria. Addition, manyofstudies have shown thatbenot have shownproteins that notand onlycofactors the livingtobacteria, alsoInthe dead entities some bacteria can only thefor living bacteria, of but alsoHowever, the dead the entities of some of bacteria can be for biosynthesis used biosynthesis mechanisms these processes areused different. Representation of bacteria synthesis of NPs; both intracellular and extracellular process are included. The catalytic applications of some NPs obtained by different biological synthesis are discussed
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