Silver Nanoparticle: Sources Of Production And Synthesis Methods

Nanoparticles have attracted the scientific research in modern day since nanotechnology is advancing day by day. Nanoparticles especially silver metal has been used in medicine and other fields since ancient time. Today with advancement in science, its applications are increasing and thus researches are being carried out to find out best methods of silver nanoparticle production. Various chemical, physical and biological synthetic methods have been developed to obtainsilver nanoparticles of various shapes and sizes, including laser ablation, gamma irradiation, electron irradiation, chemical reduction, photochemical methods, etc. The biosynthesis of nanoparticles speciallysilver nanoparticles is emerging at the intersection of nanotechnology and biotechnology. It has received increasing attention due to agrowing need to develop environmentally sustainable technologies in material synthesis. In biological synthetic methods, it was shown that the silver nanoparticles produced by plants are more stable in comparison with those produced by other organisms. Plants (especially plant extracts) are able to reduce silver ions faster than fungi or bacteria. Accordingly, these environmental friendly biological systems are considered as nanofactories. It must be pointed out that many such microorganisms are biologically poisonous to humans and care must be taken in their choice for production of nanoparticles. Thus it becomes important to identify non pathogenic species of microorganism which may perform optimally but with least hazard to health or environment.