Nanoparticles: synthesis and applications

Nanoparticles are materials engineered at scales between roughly 1 and 100 nanometers, where size-dependent physical and chemical properties make them useful for applications ranging from drug delivery to antimicrobial coatings — silver nanoparticles, for instance, can disrupt bacterial membranes in ways that bulk silver cannot. Synthesizing these particles reliably, whether through chemical processes or greener biological routes using plant extracts or microorganisms, is central to making them practical and scalable. A persistent tension in the research concerns the same properties that make nanoparticles effective: their high reactivity and ability to cross biological barriers also raise concerns about cytotoxicity in human cells and accumulation in ecosystems. Understanding exactly how particle size, shape, and surface chemistry govern both therapeutic benefit and environmental harm remains one of the most actively contested questions in the area.

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Keywords

NanoparticlesAntimicrobialToxicitySilverNanomaterialsBiological Synthesis