Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles Using Whole Cells of <i>Geotrichum candidum</i>

Abstract

The synthesis of nanoparticles with desired size and shape is an important area of research in nanotechnology. Use of biological system is an alternative approach to chemical and physical procedures for the synthesis of metal nanoparticles. An efficient environment-friendly approach for the biosynthesis of rapid and stable Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) using whole cells of Geotrichum candidum is discussed in this paper. The enzymes/proteins present in the microorganism might be responsible for the reduction of metal salts to nanoparticles. Various reaction parameters such as culture age, temperature, pH, metal salt, and cell mass concentrations were optimized. The AuNPs were characterized by UV-visible spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Nanoparticles were isolated by sonicating the whole cells after treatment with Tween 80. The whole cell mediated process showed the simplistic, feasible, easy to scale up, and low-cost approach for the synthesis of AuNPs.