Interaction of Copper-Based Nanoparticles to Soil, Terrestrial, and Aquatic Systems: Critical Review of the State of the Science and Future Perspectives

In the past two decades, increased production and usage of metallic nanoparticles (NPs) has inevitably increased their discharge into the different compartments of the environment, which ultimately paved the way for their uptake and accumulation in various trophic levels of the food chain. Due to these issues, several questions have been raised on the usage of NPs in everyday life and has become a matter of public health concern. Among the metallic NPs, Cu-based NPs have gained popularity due to their cost-effectiveness and multifarious promising uses. Several studies in the past represented the phytotoxicity of Cu-based NPs on plants. However, comprehensive knowledge is still lacking. Additionally, the impact of Cu-based NPs on soil organisms such as agriculturally important microbes, fungi, mycorrhiza, nematode, and earthworms are poorly studied. This review article critically analyses the literature data to achieve a more comprehensive knowledge on the toxicological profile of Cu-based NPs and increase our understanding of the effects of Cu-based NPs on aquatic and terrestrial plants as well as on soil microbial communities. The underlying mechanism of biotransformation of Cu-based NPs and the process of their penetration into plants has also been discussed herein. Overall, this review could provide valuable information to design rules and regulations for the safe disposal of Cu-based NPs into a sustainable environment

Environmentally benign bio-inspired synthesis of Au nanoparticles, their self-assembly and agglomeration

The synthesis and characterization of stable gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) from gold chloride in soluble protein extracts of tomato (Solanum lycopersicumL.) leaves is demonstrated.</p

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Not AvailableTo access the nanoparticle production potential over a hundreds of fungi were isolated from the soil and tested with precursor salts of Zn, Mg and Ti. Initially, the nanoparticle size was calculated by using the dynamic light scattering through particle size analyzer. Only 14 fungi isolate were found suitable for nanoparticle biosynthesis. All the fourteen fungal isolate identified as molecular level, out of which six were identified as Aspergillus flavus, two each as Aspergillus terreus and Aspergillus tubingensis and one each as Aspergillus niger, Rhizoctonia bataticola, Aspergillus fumigatus, and Aspergillus oryzae. To understand the reason of variable potential of nanoparticle production, extracellular protein content was measured. The results suggested that CZR 1 isolate of Aspergillus terreus showing the maximum 1480.98 g mL−1 extracellular protein contents and have potential for nanoparticle synthesis of all the three Zn, Mg and Ti metals. The 32 kDa protein was responsible for the synthesis of Zn, Mg and Ti nanoparticles from its precursor compound ZnO, MgO and TiO2 respectively.Not Availabl