Biogenic Sulfur-Based Chalcogenide Nanocrystals: Methods of Fabrication, Mechanistic Aspects, and Bio-Applications

Abstract

Bio-nanotechnology has emerged as an efficient and competitive methodology for the production of added-value nanomaterials (NMs). This review article gathers knowledge gleaned from the literature regarding the biosynthesis of sulfur-based chalcogenide nanoparticles (S-NPs), such as CdS, ZnS and PbS NPs, using various biological resources, namely bacteria, fungi including yeast, algae, plant extracts, single biomolecules, and viruses. In addition, this work sheds light onto the hypothetical mechanistic aspects, and discusses the impact of varying the experimental parameters, such as the employed bio-entity, time, pH, and biomass concentration, on the obtained S-NPs and, consequently, on their properties. Furthermore, various bio-applications of these NMs are described. Finally, key elements regarding the whole process are summed up and some hints are provided to overcome encountered bottlenecks towards the improved and scalable production of biogenic S-NPs.

Biogenic Selenium Nanoparticles in Biomedical Sciences: Properties, Current Trends, Novel Opportunities and Emerging Challenges in Theranostic Nanomedicine

“…Moreover, bringing nanomaterials from the laboratory to clinical or industrial applications has been slow and challenging due to the poor understanding of the new potential hazards introduced by nanotechnology and the absence of suitable policies to manage emerging risks [ 452 , 453 , 454 , 455 ]. Hence, bionanotechnology may hold the solution and constitute a sustainable alternative by offering better and safer processing methods for NP production [ 65 , 171 , 456 , 457 , 458 , 459 , 460 , 461 ]. This growing approach aims at exploring the capabilities of natural, widespread, and renewable resources as part of the starting reagents in the NP production process to eliminate or, at least, reduce the NP hazards to the environment and human health, and, ultimately, to substitute the existing toxic reagents/products with new environmentally friendly products that are benign, eco-friendly, sustainable, biocompatible, and safe [ 462 , 463 ].…”

“…Nevertheless, the biological synthesis route, which relies on bacteria, yeast, plants, and microalgae, constitutes a widely explored green alternative that has witnessed tremendous developments and is especially suitable for SeNPs [ 42 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 ]. Bionanotechnology, a subset of green nanotechnology, is described as a set of methods that eliminate or reduce the utilization of toxic substances, resulting in cost-effective and eco-friendly alternatives [ 64 , 65 ]. In this sense, biogenic SeNPs are highly biocompatible and stable, due to natural coatings provided by biomolecules that, besides avoiding the use of chemical stabilizers, prevent the aggregation of the particles, improve their pharmacological activity, and protect them against physical and chemical degradation [ 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 ].…”

Neodymium Selenide Nanoparticles: Greener Synthesis and Structural Characterization

“…The relative differences between the energetic and fundamental structural parameters of a constituent’s metal and nonmetal vary considerably between elemental systems. For the last two decades, the applications of nano-chalcogenides have garnered worldwide attention and their nanocrystalline forms have received immense significance in various applications [ 12 ]. Therefore, different routes for the synthesis of nanocrystalline metal chalcogenides have evolved for the preparation of nano-chalcogenides of desired physical properties [ 13 , 14 , 15 ].…”