Green and Sustainable Synthesis of Iron Oxide-Based Nanomaterials for Energy and Environmental Applications:Chapter 3 - Microorganism-based green fabrication of iron oxide nanomaterials: current status and future prospects

The scientific community worldwide has been interested in nanoscience over the past few decades due to its potential applications in the energy, pharmaceutical, agricultural, electronics, medical diagnostics, and chemical industries, as well as in space exploration. These distinctive features of iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) can be explored for various additional applications, including medication delivery, biosensing, reusable catalysts, antibacterial and anticancer properties, MRI agents, and medical imaging. Therefore, it is essential to fabricate IONPs with the appropriate monodispersity, structure, size, and topology for the applications. The biofabrication of IONPs with the appropriate nature and structure utilizing microbial machinery is safer, faster, and more ecologically friendly than previous approaches. Many microorganisms have previously been investigated for their ability to fabricate IONPs. As a result, manufacturing IONPs using microorganisms is a novel approach that shows great promise. This chapter offers detailed information on several methods for producing IONPs utilizing microbial cells, as well as their multifunctional applications.