Nanoscience & Nanotechnology-Asia - Volume 12, Issue 1, 2022

Nanoparticles are being extensively studied these days to grab more knowledge on how they can be used in various fields to increase the yield and hence be beneficial for biotic components of the ecosystem. Chemicals being used in agriculture have caused a lot of damage to the soil and water quality along with the crops, ultimately affecting human health severely. Better alternatives are thus required to achieve higher yields with a better quality of crop plants that enhance human health. A variety of nanoparticles exist in nature, while others have been manufactured accidentally or engineered purposefully. These nanoparticles can play many beneficial roles in crop plants, increasing the yield of crops and the quality of the grains. They can be applied at various stages and for different doses. The effect that they exhibit would be dependent on many factors. Different nanoparticles have diverse effects on different plants. Some nanoparticles may be beneficial to one species of crop plant and may be disadvantageous to the other ones. Therefore, an elaborative study is required for all the types of nanoparticles exhibiting their advantageous and disadvantageous impacts on different species of crop plants for the dose and stage in which they have been applied. This review explains that the different types of nanoparticles are categorized based on their manufacture and the different effects they cause in different plant species. More research knowledge works are yet to be obtained before using nanoparticles in crop plants since the way they affect human health is a serious matter of concern.

Background: The nanotechnology which has vast growth in the research field and the outcome product of nanotechnology is nanoparticles. Quantum dots with a size range of 2-10 nm represent a new form in nanotechnology materials. It has shown widespread attention in recent years in the field of science and its application in drug delivery. Quantum dots are semiconductor nanocrystals which possess interesting properties and characteristics, such as unique optical properties, quantum confinement effect and emit fluorescence on excitation with a light source which makes them a potential candidate for nano-probes and for carriers for biological application. Objectives: The objective of the article is to explain the role and application of Quantum dots in drug delivery and its future application in pharmaceutical science and research. This review focuses on drug delivery through Quantum dots and Quantum dots helping nanocarriers for drug delivery. The development of QD nano-carriers for drugs has become a hotspot in the fields of nano-drug research. The Quantum DOT labelled nano-carrier can deliver the drugs with fewer side effects and it can trace the drug location in the body. Results: The fluorescent emission of Quantum dots is better than other organic dyes which lead to better drug delivery for cancer or acting as a tag for other drug carriers. Conclusion: Because of the emission property of Quantum dots, it can be used with other drug carriers and later it can be traced with the help of Quantum dots. Quantum dots can be used as smart drug delivery.

Background: Cancer continues to be the most annihilating illness and despite vast research in understanding cancer biology as well as rational drug designing progressing profoundly, cancer remains the second leading cause of death worldwide. The conventional chemotherapeutic agents being exploited for cancer therapy contain several limitations, including less selectivity, nonspecific targeting and high off-target effects, and the emergence of multidrug resistance. These drawbacks can be addressed by employing the use of nanotherapeutics. Objectives: The main objective of this review is to summarize various mechanisms of cancer genesis. It focuses on several strategies employed for modifying nano formulations for localization and emerging stimuli-based nanotherapeutics with recent examples. Methods: The method involved the collection of the articles from different search engines like Google, PubMed, and ScienceDirect for the literature to get appropriate information regarding the topics. Results: Studies revealed that nanoscale-based therapy provides targeted delivery, minimizes the off-target effects, and improves the therapeutic efficacy of the treatment modalities. The characteristics of nanoparticles like larger surface area become favourable and provide a platform for surface modifications, thereby improving cell targeting, internalization, and opportunities for delivering multiple agents. Advances in rational designing like stimuli-responsive therapies employing the use of sensitive nanocarriers, further provide high specificity, controlled release, and more efficient delivery of chemotherapeutic agents. Conclusion: Characteristics of the nanoscale delivery system like larger surface area provide us with ample options for desired modifications, hence providing multimodal delivery of chemotherapeutic agents in cancer treatment. Nano therapy serves well as a potential tool for improving cancer therapies.

Anatase (TiO2) nanoparticles co-doped with Ni/Al ions were synthesized by a thermoprecipitation method. The samples were characterized by using XRay diffraction and optical absorption spectroscopy. The structural/optical investigations established the development of substitutional solid solutions: TiO2:Ni:Al. The magnetization investigations were performed to study the generated stable ferromagnetic properties of the samples due to the Ni²⁺ doping. To boost the created ferromagnetic properties, Al ions co-dopings were employed to supply/densify the itinerant electrons. It was planned to decide on the suitable hydrogenation conditions and temperature (TH), which are necessary to create appreciable strength of ferromagnetic properties in the host co-doped samples based on TiO2 for practical uses. The results established that the ferromagnetic energy (Umag) was increased by ~240% and the saturation magnetization by ~140% with increasing of TH from 400 °C to 500°C. The obtained Msat was higher by ~50 times than that previously attained for Ni-doped TiO2. Such novel results were discussed and explained through the spin-spin Heisenberg interactions.

Background: Considering the high cost of nano-particles chemical synthesis and bacteria’s high resistance against antibiotics, investigating silver particles biosynthesis and their effect on clinical and standard strains of different bacteria is very important. Objectives: This study investigates the feasibility of green synthesis of silver chloride nanoparticles by labiosa (Bunge) Adylov, Kamelin & Makhm Phlomoides (Eremostachys labiosa Bunge) herbal extract and Phlomoides binaludensis Salmaki & Joharchi (Binaloud Cistanche tubulosa) plant. Methods: Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), UV-Visible Spectroscopy, and Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) are used for nano-particles characterization. The antibacterial property of extracts and synthesized nano-particles was evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus and Escherichia coli by agar disk diffusion and well diffusion, respectively. As antioxidants existing in plants are expected to act as regenerators in nano-particles synthesis, the plants used were investigated considering the existence of antioxidants through two DPPH and FRAP methods. Total values of phenol and IC50 were determined by the extract of considered plants. Results: The results showed that what has been successful in nano-particles synthesis is silver chloride nano-particles synthesis, which is due to the existence of chlorinated compounds in the herbal extract. Synthesized nano-particles are spherical, and their size is in the range of 27-35 nm, and synthesized nano-particles were distributed consistently. Also nano-particles enjoy significant antibacterial activity. Conclusion: IC50 was 0.56 mg/ml and 0.96 mg/ml for the aerial organs of Eremostachys labiosa Bunge and Binaloud Cistanche tubulosa, respectively, in this study, while it was 0.38 mg/ml for BHT synthetic antioxidant. Also, iron regeneration ability reported 255.990 and 64.110 Fe ion mmol/extract gr by the extracts.

Objectives: The work investigates the performance of intrinsic layers with and without band-gap tailoring in single-junction amorphous silicon-based photovoltaic cells. The work proposes single-junction amorphous silicon solar cells in which band-gap grading has been done between layers as well as within each layer for the first time. Materials & Methods: The samples of hydrogenated amorphous silicon-germanium with different mole fractions are fabricated, and their band-gaps are validated through optical characterization and material characterization. A single-junction solar cell with an intrinsic layer made up of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (aSi:H) having a band-gap of 1.6 eV is replaced by continuously graded hydrogenated amorphous silicon-germanium (aSi1-xGexH) intrinsic bottom layers having band-gaps ranging from 0.9 eV to 1.5 eV. The proposed structure has been considered as a variant of previously designed single-junction band-gap tailored structures. Results: The suitable utilization of band-gap tailoring on the intrinsic absorber layer aids more incident photons in energy conversion and thereby attain a better short circuit current density of 19.89 mA/cm².