Green nanoparticles for biomedical and bioengineering applications

Abstract

Green nanotechnology is a recent branch of nanotechnology in consonance with current concerns about sustainability issues using methods and materials that aim to generate eco-friendly nanosystems, with low environmental impact associated with significant economic and social gains. This concept offers opportunities for the use of nontoxic reagents and metabolites of living organisms in routes of green synthesis of nanosystems, including metallic nanoparticles, polymer nanoparticles, liposomes, and emulsions, because these materials enable a wide range of innovative applications, besides, in general, technologically desirable characteristics. Simplicity, scaling-up possibilities, and low cost of production, as well as the enhanced properties, thereby qualifying green nanoparticles as promising candidates for unprecedented applications. Biomedical and bioengineering processes may directly benefit from this emerging nanotechnology field among other areas, such as agriculture and many industrial sectors. This chapter particularly focuses on subjects that were not covered by previous reviews about the area and presents a perspective that aligns high technology and sustainability in the development of nanotechnological products.