Biosynthesis and cytotoxic activity of lead oxide nanoparticles

Abstract

Lead oxide (PbO) is known as an important industrial material. It is a semiconductor that has two crystalline forms, litharge (tetragonal crystalline structure) and massicot (orthorhombic crystalline structure). In this research, lead oxide nanoparticles (PbO-NPs) have been synthesized through the utilization of gelatin as a stabilizer, while its cytotoxic effects were investigated on Neueo2A cancer cell line. The generation of PbO-NPs was confirmed by the UV-Vis spectroscopy, PXRD, TG-DTA, EDX, and FESEM. The results of diffraction patterns of synthesized nanoparticles show the formation of both form α-PbO-NPs (tetragonal) and β-PbO-NPs (orthorhombic). The particles size of synthesized PbO-NPs was calculated to be around 10–20 nm. The cytotoxic activity of the synthesized PbO-NPs indicated that concentrations under 30 μg/mL have insignificant toxicity.