Biosynthesis and application of silver and gold nanoparticles

Nanotechnology has dynamically developed as an important field of modern research with potential effects in electronic and medicine (Glomm 2005, Chan 2006, Boisselier and Astruc 2009). Nanotechnology can be defined as a research for the design, synthesis, and manipulation of structure of particles with dimension smaller than 100nm. A new branch of nanotechnology is nanobiotechnology. Nanobiotechnology combines biological principles with physical and chemical procedures to generate nano-sized particles with specific functions. Nanobiotechnology represents an economic alternative for chemical and physical methods of nanopaticles formation. These methods of synthesis can be divided on intra cellular and extracellular (Ahmad et al. 2005). This integration of nanoparticles with biological molecules has lead to the development of diagnostic devices, contrast agents, and important tools in cancel therapy. Nanobiotechnology describes an application of biological systems for the production of new functional material such as nanoparticles. Biosynthetic methods can employed either microorganism cells or plant extract for nanoparticles production. Biosynthesis of nanoparticles is an exciting recent addition to the large repertoire of nanoparticles synthesis methods and now, nanoparticle have entered a commercial exploration period. Gold and silver nanoparticles are presently under intensive study for applications in optoelectronic devices, ultrasensitive chemical and biological sensors and as catalysts. This chapter is devoted to biosynthesis and application of gold and silver nanoparticles