Biological Synthesis of Copper Nanoparticles and its impact - a Review

During the last decade, arrays of exploratory experiments conducted to gauge the solid impact of nanotechnology have comparatively proved its efficiency. Nanoparticles (Nps) are solid particles with dimensions between 1 to 100 nm. At present, Copper (Cu) nanoparticles find wide applications in agricultural, industrial engineering and technological fields. In agriculture much effort has been made in recent years to ascertain the necessity of certain minor elements in the economy of plants. Bionanotechnology combines biological principles with physical and chemical approaches to produce nano-sized particles with specific functions. Though the use of nanoscience in agriculture has been predominantly theoretical, yet effective antibacterial activities shown by Cu Nps for agriculture has fascinated the researches in the arena of nanotechnology, leading to the development of intensively clean, cost-effective and efficient biosynthesis techniques of Cu Nps. Global emphasis is given to the importance of biological synthesis either extracellularly or intracellularly. The impact of biosynthesized Cu has been studied on a few plant species at their very early growth stages. This manuscript reviews the biosynthesis, characterization and risks of Cu Nps.