Nanotechnology can offer green and eco-friendly alternatives for plant disease management. Apart from being eco-friendly, fungi are used as bio-manufacturing units, which will provide an added benefit in being easy to use, as compared to other microbes. The non-pathogenic nature of some fungal species in combination with the simplicity of production and handling will improve the mass production of silver nanoparticles. Recently, a diverse range of fungi have been screened for their ability to create silver nanoparticles. Mycosynthesis of gold, silver, gold–silver alloy, selenium, tellurium, platinum, palladium, silica, titania, zirconia, quantum dots, usnic acid, magnetite, cadmium telluride and uraninite nanoparticles has also been reported by various researchers. Nanotechnological application in plant pathology is still in the early stages. For example, nanofungicides, nanopesticides and nanoherbicides are being used extensively in agriculture practices. Remote activation and monitoring of intelligent nano-delivery systems can assist agricultural growers of the future to minimize fungicides and pesticides use. Nanoparticle-mediated gene transfer would be useful for improvement of crops resistant to pathogens and pest. This review critically assesses the role of fungi in the synthesis of nanoparticles, the mechanism involved in the synthesis, the effect of different factors on the reduction of metal ions in developing low-cost techniques for the synthesis and recovery of nanoparticles. Moreover, the application of nanoparticles in plant disease control, antimicrobial mechanisms, and nanotoxicity on plant ecosystem and soil microbial communities has also been discussed in detail.

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In this work, the preparation and characterization of a novel multifunctional collagen–chitosan material containing silver nanoparticles and nonsteroid anti‐inflammatory drug ibuprofen is described. As a starting material, the commercially available collagen–chitosan scaffold was used. Drug‐loading procedure was performed via supercritical CO2‐assisted impregnation technique. Silver nanoparticles were prepared via metal vapor synthesis and introduced into the composite biopolymer matrix. An analysis of the small‐angle X‐ray scattering profiles revealed that silver nanoparticles are characterized by having a logarithmic normal size distribution with the maximum at 25 nm. The average size of particles determined from the broadening of diffraction peaks is in a good agreement with this result. The surface of the materials was characterized by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The in vitro release kinetics of ibuprofen in phosphate buffer solution with pH = 7.4 from prepared materials was studied. The drug release to solution is governed by Fickian diffusion and can be described within the Ritger–Peppas model. Introduction of silver nanoparticles has no effect on the diffusion mechanism. The as‐prepared materials are promising for the medical applications such as dressings for treatments of infected wounds and infection preventing. These materials can act as a matrix for transdermal drug administration. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 59:2479–2487, 2019. © 2019 Society of Plastics Engineers

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