Plant extract mediated synthesis of metal nanoparticles, their characterization and applications: A green approach

Nowadays, nanoparticles are gaining enormous importance in a wide variety of disciplines due to their unambiguous physical and chemical properties. There are lots of physical and chemical approaches available for the synthesis of metal nanoparticles. But there are certain disadvantages associated with these methods, such as adsorption of hazardous toxins on the surface of the material, high capital investment, high manufacturing energy demand, etc., which make their effective implementation almost impossible. An alternative method of synthesizing nanoparticles to avoid the aforementioned disadvantages is to use different parts of the plant under aqueous conditions. Plant-mediated approach for the synthesis of nanoparticles is becoming increasingly popular due to its faster reaction rate, easily affordable, eco-friendly nature and rich diversity of plants. Chemical compositions of plant extracts are examined using the liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry technique. Noble metals such as Silver, Gold, Iron, Copper, Platinum, Zinc, Palladium, and their oxides are used for the fabrication of metal nanoparticles, due to their enormous potential applications. In a single-step green synthesis process, the phytochemical constituents which are present in plant extract reduce metal salts into metal nanoparticles. This article gives an overview of plant-mediated synthesized metal and metal oxide nanoparticles and their characterization by using different techniques, together with their properties and applications in numerous fields.