Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Mar 31;13(7):1244.
doi: 10.3390/nano13071244.

Role of Honey as a Bifunctional Reducing and Capping/Stabilizing Agent: Application for Silver and Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles

Norfarina Bahari  1   2 , Norhashila Hashim  1   3 , Khalina Abdan  1   4 , Abdah Md Akim  5 , Bernard Maringgal  6 , Laith Al-Shdifat  7
Affiliations
Review

Role of Honey as a Bifunctional Reducing and Capping/Stabilizing Agent: Application for Silver and Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles

Norfarina Bahari et al. Nanomaterials (Basel). .

Abstract

The use of natural reducing and capping agents has gained importance as a way to synthesize nanoparticles (NPs) in an environmentally sustainable manner. Increasing numbers of studies have been published on the green synthesis of NPs using natural sources such as bacteria, fungi, and plants. In recent years, the use of honey in the synthesis of metal and metal oxide NPs has become a new and promising area of research. Honey acts as both a stabilizing and reducing agent in the NP synthesis process and serves as a precursor. This review focuses on the use of honey in the synthesis of silver NPs (Ag-NPs) and zinc oxide NPs (ZnO-NPs), emphasizing its role as a reducing and capping agent. Additionally, a comprehensive examination of the bio-based reducing and capping/stabilizing agents used in the honey-mediated biosynthesis mechanism is provided. Finally, the review looks forward to environmentally friendly methods for NP synthesis.

Keywords: capping agent; green synthesis; honey; nanoparticles; reducing agent.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Top-down and bottom-up approaches in the synthesis of NPs [3]. Reprinted from an open-access source.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The mechanism of nanoparticle formation.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Schematic diagram of honey-mediated green synthesis of NPs [24]. Reprinted from an open-access source.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Villaverde-Cantizano G., Contreras-Cáceres R. Reducing Agents in Colloidal Nanoparticle Synthesis. The Royal Society of Chemistry; London, UK: 2021. Reducing Agents in Colloidal Nanoparticle Synthesis—An Introduction; pp. 1–27.
    1. Saravanan A., Kumar P.S., Karishma S., Vo D.V.N., Jeevanantham S., Yaashikaa P.R., George C.S. A review on biosynthesis of metal nanoparticles and its environmental applications. Chemosphere. 2021;264:128580. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.128580. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lu H., Tang S.Y., Yun G., Li H., Zhang Y., Qiao R., Li W. Modular and Integrated Systems for Nanoparticle and Microparticle Synthesis—A Review. Biosensors. 2020;10:165. doi: 10.3390/bios10110165. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Agarwal H., Venkat Kumar S., Rajeshkumar S. A review on green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles—An eco-friendly approach. Resour. Technol. 2017;3:406–413. doi: 10.1016/j.reffit.2017.03.002. - DOI
    1. Reverberi A.P., Vocciante M., Lunghi E., Pietrelli L. New Trends in the Synthesis of Nanoparticles by Green Methods. Chem. Eng. Trans. 2017;61:667–672. doi: 10.3303/CET1761109. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources