Properties of silver and copper nanoparticles obtained by the methods of «green» chemistry

Abstract

Signifcant challenges for the modern international community are population growth and climate change, and the latest technologies are helping to solve them. These include nanotechnologies that are capable of positively influencing the quality of agricultural products, minimising the negative impact of pesticides on the environment and human health, and increasing production productivity and food safety. Nanotechnology helps to minimise waste by producing more efcient products, leading to the development of precision agriculture and efcient resource management. Minimising the production of hazardous substances, reducing energy consumption in green nanotechnology and almost no toxic chemicals make green nanomaterials widely used and desirable in various felds of human activity. Traditional and new methods for the formation of nanosized materials are considered, with an emphasis on their advantages and disadvantages. Extra- and intracellular ways of nanoparticle formation, as well as ascending and descending methods are described. The aim of the work was to establish the possibility of green synthesis of CuO nanoparticles using peppermint and lemon balm extracts. The plant extracts were prepared by ethanol extraction from the leaves in an extractor. The extract was separated from the plant material by fltering through flter paper. Copper nanoparticles were synthesised by the reduction of copper sulphate in the presence of peppermint or lemon balm extract, which acted as both a reducing agent and a nanoparticle stabiliser. The paper shows the possibility of synthesising copper oxide nanoparticles by the method using peppermint (Mentha piperita) and lemon (Melissa ofcinalis L.) balm leaf extracts. The TEM morphological study of Cu0 metal nanoparticles in the volume of polymeric nanocomposites and those created by the green synthesis method showed that the average size of copper (Cu0) nanoparticles is 3.5 and 12.2 nm, respectively. It was found that the thermo-chemical method of creating nanocomposites is cheap and accessible, but causes the formation of small metal nanoparticles, in contrast to the polymeric nanocomposite created by the green synthesis method, which is environmentally friendly and occurs at low temperatures.

Keywords

• nanobiotechnology
• nanoparticles
• environmentally friendly products
• copper oxide
• silver particles.