Nano-Bioremediation: Nanotechnology and Bioremediation

Nano-Biotechnology And Uniqueness Of Nanoparticles

Nanotechnology as we know in its modern and post-modern forms, is the young branch of knowledge but mankind has empirically used since thousands of years (Pradeep, 2007, Anuradha, 2013). It is an umbrella term covering wide range of technologies comprising structures and processes at nanometer scale (Abbasi et al., 2009). The potential of nanotechnology is often believed to revolve round the nanoparticles. The core versatility of the nanoparticles is the fact that they possess significant properties than that of bulk counterparts.

Nanoparticles or nanomaterials are in general termed engineered material possessing size between 1 nm and 100 nm, at least in one dimension. It includes the two groups either organic or and inorganic. The first category comprises carbon nanoparticles (fullerenes), while the second with magnetic, noble metal (e.g. palladium, gold and silver) and semiconductor nanoparticles (e.g. titanium dioxide and zinc oxide). Nanoparticles are fabricated either top down or bottom up approach. The traditional method of nanoparticles generation includes chemical or physical techniques. Of these, the former often uses hazardous reagents while the later involve energy-intensive and is highly expensive. In contrast, biotechnological approach emerged in the recent past involving biomolecules contained in microbes, algae or higher vascular and non-vascular plants to fabricate nanoparticles of desired shape and size in a similar way that mimics the nature (Figure 1). Thus biomimetic nanoparticles formations are much ‘clean’ and ‘green’owing great relevance to the field of nano-biotechnology (Abbasi et al., 2012; Anuradha et al., 2015a; 2015b).