%0 Journal Article
%T Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles in Photosynthetic Plants
%A Ram Prasad
%J Journal of Nanoparticles
%D 2014
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2014/963961
%X Nanobiotechnology is emerging as a field of applied biological science and nanotechnology. Synthesis of nanoparticles is done by various physical and chemical methods but the biological methods are relatively simple, cost-effective, nontoxic, and environmentally friendly methods. The present review focuses on the synthesis of nanoparticles with special emphasis on the use of plants parts for the synthesis process, its applications, and future prospectus. 1. Introduction Nanotechnology focuses mainly on the design, synthesis and manipulation of structure and size of the particles with dimensions smaller than 100£¿nm [1]. Nanotechnology combines the principles with physical and chemical procedures to generate nanosized particles with the specific function. Nanotechnology is now creating a growing sense of excitement in the life sciences especially biomedical devices and medicine. Nanoparticles exhibit completely new or improved properties based on specific characteristics such as size, shape, and orientation [2]. The biological synthesis of nanoparticles is a cost-effective and ecofriendly methods and has ability to replace the physical and chemical methods because these methods are toxic and costly. Consequently, nanomaterials have been synthesized using microorganisms and plant extracts. The use of plant extracts for synthesis of nanoparticles is potentially advantageous over microorganisms due to the ease of scaling up the biohazards and elaborate process of maintaining cell cultures [3, 4]. For the last two decades extensive work has been done to develop new drugs from natural products because of the resistance of microorganisms to the existing drugs [1]. Integration of nanoparticles with biological molecules has led to the development of diagnostic devices and important tools in cancer therapy. Biological methods can employ either microorganism cells or plant extracts for nanoparticles production. Biosynthesis of nanoparticles is an exciting recent addition to the large repertoire of nanoparticles synthesis methods and, now, nanoparticles have entered a commercial exploration period. Au, Ag, Zn, and Cu have been used mostly for the synthesis of stable dispersions of nanoparticles, which are useful in areas such as photocatalysis, diodes, piezoelectric devices, fluorescent tubes, laser, sensor, optoelectronics, photography, biological labeling, photonics, and surface-enhanced Raman scattering detection [5¨C7]. Moreover, the biocompatible and inert nanomaterials have potential applications in cancer diagnosis and therapy. Nowdays, nanotechnology methods
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jnp/2014/963961/