Microbial Nanotechnology in Life Sciences: An Opportunity for Green Applications

Various microorganisms have different mechanisms for NPs production. Nonetheless, NPs are generally formed according to the following approach: first, the metallic ions are trapped on the surface or inside the microbial cells. After that, the trapped metal ions are reduced to NPs in the presence of enzymes. Generally, microorganisms influence the formation of the mineral through two different methods: they can change the solution’s composition until it becomes supersaturated or more supersaturated than it formerly was regarding a particular phase. They can also affect mineral formation via the manufacturing of organic polymers; in turn, influencing the nucleation by preferring (or inhibiting) the stabilization of the first mineral seeds (Benzerara et al. 2011). Some feasible formation mechanism for some usual NPs: silver and gold NPs, heavy metal NPs, magnetic NPs, and sulfide NPs are reviewed in this part (Li et al. 2011).