GREEN SYNTHESIS OF NANOPARTICLES FROM SEAWEEDS – A LITERATURE REVIEW

Marine seaweeds that belong to Chlorophyta, Rhodophyta, and Phaeophyta groups are reported to biosynthesize metal nanoparticles. The morphology and the stability of the nanoparticles obtained from seaweeds for biomedical and environmental applications are equivalent in most aspects to other “green” methodologies. The ability of algae to accumulate metals and reduce metal ions make them a superior contender for the biosynthesis of nanoparticles and hence they are called bio-nano factories as both the live and dead dried biomass are used for the synthesis of metallic nanoparticles. The biosynthesis of nanoparticles using seaweeds can be scaled up to meet industrial requirements. Algae are relatively convenient to handle, less toxic, and less harmful to the environment; synthesis can be carried out at ambient temperature and pressure and in simple aqueous media at a normal pH value. Therefore, this review elaborates seaweeds as a better tool for the fabrication of metal nanoparticles.