Abstract
Biological nanomaterials, also known as biomaterials, are materials derived from or inspired by biological systems, such as proteins, nucleic acids, and viruses. This chapter provides an overview of the synthesis, characterization, and applications of biological nanomaterials. We begin by discussing the properties and synthesis methods of these materials, including genetic engineering, chemical modification, and self-assembly. Next, we describe their characterization techniques, such as electron microscopy, X-ray crystallography, and circular dichroism. The chapter also explores the various applications of biological nanomaterials, including in drug delivery, tissue engineering, biosensors, and biocatalysis. Moreover, we highlight the challenges associated with their large-scale production and commercialization, such as immunogenicity, stability, and regulatory issues. Finally, the chapter concludes with a summary of the current state of research and suggests possible directions for future work in this exciting field.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Boverhof DR, Bramante CM, Butala JH, Clancy SF, Lafranconi M, West J, Gordon SC (2015) Comparative assessment of nanomaterial definitions and safety evaluation considerations. Regul Toxicol Pharmacol 73(1):137–150
Basavegowda N, Mishra K, Lee YR (2017) Trimetallic FeAgPt alloy as a nanocatalyst for the reduction of 4-nitroaniline and decolorization of rhodamine B: a comparative study. J Alloy Compd 701:456–464
Sun L, Yin Y, Lv P, Su W, Zhang L (2018) Green controllable synthesis of Au–Ag alloy nanoparticles using Chinese wolfberry fruit extract and their tunable photocatalytic activity. RSC Adv 8(8):3964–3973
Singh P, Kim Y-J, Zhang D, Yang D-C (2016) Biological synthesis of nanoparticles from plants and microorganisms. Trends Biotechnol 34(7):588–599
Zhou GJ, Li SH, Zhang YC, Fu YZ (2014) Biosynthesis of CdS nanoparticles in banana peel extract. J Nanosci Nanotechnol 14(6):4437–4442
Ganaie SU, Abbasi T, Abbasi SA (2015) Rapid and green synthesis of bimetallic Au–Ag nanoparticles using an otherwise worthless weed Antigonon leptopus. J Exp Nanosci 11(6):395–417
Varukattu NB, Vivek R, Rejeeth C, Thangam R, Ponraj T, Sharma A, Kannan S (2020) Nanostructured pH-responsive biocompatible chitosan coated copper oxide nanoparticles: a polymeric smart intracellular delivery system for doxorubicin in breast cancer cells. Arab J Chem 13(1):2276–2286
Ma K, Cheng Y, Wei X, Chen D, Zhao X, Jia P (2020) Gold embedded chitosan nanoparticles with cell membrane mimetic polymer coating for pH-sensitive controlled drug release and cellular fluorescence imaging. J Biomater Appl 35(7):857–868
Vunain E, Mishra AK, Mamba BB (2017) Fundamentals of chitosan for biomedical applications. Chitosan Based Biomater 1:3–30
Bakshi PS, Selvakumar D, Kadirvelu K, Kumar NS (2019) Chitosan as an environment friendly biomaterial—a review on recent modifications and applications. Int J Biol Macromole
Yilmaz Atay H (2020) Antibacterial activity of chitosan-based systems. Functional Chitosan: 457–489
Liu N, Chen X-G, Park H-J, Liu C-G, Liu C-S, Meng X-H, Yu L-J (2006) Effect of MW and concentration of chitosan on antibacterial activity of Escherichia coli. Carbohyd Polym 64(1):60–65
Pham-Huy LA, He H, Pham-Huy C (2008) Free radicals, antioxidants in disease and health. Int J Biomed Sci IJBS 4(2):89–96
Xia W, Liu P, Zhang J, Chen J (2011) Biological activities of chitosan and chitooligosaccharides. Food Hydrocolloids 25(2):170–179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodhyd.2010.03.003
Adhikari HS, Yadav PN (2018) Anticancer activity of chitosan, chitosan derivatives, and their mechanism of action. Int J Biomater 2018:e2952085. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/2952085
Park JK, Chung MJ, Choi HN, Park YI (2011) Effects of the molecular weight and the degree of deacetylation of chitosan oligosaccharides on antitumor activity. Int J Mol Sci 12(1):266–277. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms12010266
Frank LA, Onzi GR, Morawski AS, Pohlmann AR, Guterres SS, Contri RV (2020) Chitosan as a coating material for nanoparticles intended for biomedical applications. React Funct Polym 147:104459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.reactfunctpolym.2019.104459
Safdar R, Omar AA, Arunagiri A, Regupathi I, Thanabalan M (2019) Potential of chitosan and its derivatives for controlled drug release applications—a review. J Drug Delivery Sci Technol 49:642–659
Bhumkar DR, Joshi HM, Sastry M, Pokharkar VB (2007) Chitosan reduced gold nanoparticles as novel carriers for transmucosal delivery of insulin. Pharm Res 24(8):1415–1426
Fuster MG, Montalbán MG, Carissimi G, Lima B, Feresin GE, Cano M, Giner-Casares JJ, López-Cascales JJ, Enriz RD, Víllora G2020) Antibacterial effect of chitosan-gold nanoparticles and computational modeling of the interaction between chitosan and a lipid bilayer model. Nanomaterials 10(12):2340
Poza P, Pérez-Rigueiro J, Elices M, Llorca J (2002) Fractographic analysis of silkworm and spider silk. Eng Fract Mechan 69(9):1035–1048.https://doi.org/10.1016/s0013-7944(01)00120-5
Koh LD, Cheng Y, Teng CP, Khin YW, Loh XJ, Tee SY, Low M, Ye E, Yu HD, Zhang YW, Han MY (2015) Structures, mechanical properties and applications of silk fibroin materials. Prog Polym Sci 46:86–110
Rockwood DN, Preda RC, Yücel T, Wang X, Lovett ML, Kaplan DL (2011) Materials fabrication from Bombyx mori silk fibroin. Nat Protoc 6(10):1612–1631
Karageorgiou V, Kaplan D (2005) Porosity of 3D biomaterial scaffolds and osteogenesis. Biomaterials 26(27):5474–5491
Lammel AS, Hu X, Park S-H, Kaplan DL, Scheibel TR (2010) Controlling silk fibroin particle features for drug delivery. Biomaterials 31(16):4583–4591
Lan Y, Li W, Jiao Y, Guo R, Zhang Y, Xue W, Zhang Y (2014) Therapeutic efficacy of antibiotic-loaded gelatin microsphere/silk fibroin scaffolds in infected full-thickness burns. Acta Biomater 10(7):3167–3176
Li H, Zhu J, Chen S, Jia L, Ma Y (2017) Fabrication of aqueous-based dual drug loaded silk fibroin electrospun nanofibers embedded with curcumin-loaded RSF nanospheres for drugs controlled release. RSC Adv 7(89):56550–56558
Fernández-García L, Marí-Buyé N, Barios JA, Madurga R, Elices M, Pérez-Rigueiro J, Ramos M, Guinea GV, González-Nieto D (2016) Safety and tolerability of silk fibroin hydrogels implanted into the mouse brain. Acta Biomater 45:262–275
Vidal SEL, Tamamoto KA, Nguyen H, Abbott RD, Cairns DM, Kaplan DL (2019) 3D biomaterial matrix to support long term, full thickness, immuno-competent human skin equivalents with nervous system components. Biomaterials 198:194–203
Wang S, Zhu M, Zhao L, Kuang D, Kundu SC, Lu S (2019) Insulin-loaded silk fibroin microneedles as sustained release system. ACS Biomater Sci Eng 5(4):1887–1894
Boopathy AV, Mandal A, Kulp DW, Menis S, Bennett NR, Watkins HC, Wang W, Martin JT, Thai NT, He Y, Schief WR (2019) Enhancing humoral immunity via sustained-release implantable microneedle patch vaccination. Proc Natl Acad Sci 116(33):16473–16478
Kundu B, Rajkhowa R, Kundu SC, Wang X (2013) Silk fibroin biomaterials for tissue regenerations. Adv Drug Deliv Rev 65(4):457–470
Bandyopadhyay A, Chowdhury SK, Dey S, Moses JC, Mandal BB (2019) Silk: A promising biomaterial opening new vistas towards affordable healthcare solutions. J Indian Inst Sci 99(3):445–487
Gil ES, Panilaitis B, Bellas E, Kaplan DL (2013) Functionalized silk biomaterials for wound healing. Adv Healthcare Mater 2(1):206–217
Lovett M, Cannizzaro C, Daheron L, Messmer B, Vunjak-Novakovic G, Kaplan DL (2007) Silk fibroin microtubes for blood vessel engineering. Biomaterials 28(35):5271–5279
Jia M, Chen Z, Guo Y, Chen X, Zhao X (2017) Efficacy of silk fibroin–nano silver against Staphylococcus aureus biofilms in a rabbit model of sinusitis. Int J Nanomed 12:2933–2939
Ribeiro M, Ferraz MP, Monteiro FJ, Fernandes MH, Beppu MM, Mantione D, Sardon H (2017) Antibacterial silk fibroin/nanohydroxyapatite hydrogels with silver and gold nanoparticles for bone regeneration. Nanomed Nanotechnol Biol Med 13(1):231–239
Mostofizadeh A, Li Y, Song B, Huang Y (2011) Synthesis, properties, and applications of low-dimensional carbon-related nanomaterials. J Nanomater 2011:1–21
Zhang H, Grüner G, Zhao Y (2013) Recent advancements of graphene in biomedicine. J Mater Chem B 1(20):2542
Zhao Q, Gan Z, Zhuang Q (2002) Electrochemical sensors based on carbon nanotubes. Electroanalysis 14(23):1609–1613
Lin Y, Lu F, Tu Y, Ren Z (2004) Glucose biosensors based on carbon nanotube nanoelectrode ensembles. Nano Lett 4(2):191–195
Zhu L, Deng C, Chen P, You X, Su H, Yuan Y, Zhu M (2014) Glucose oxidase biosensors based on carbon nanotube non-woven fabrics. Carbon 67:795–796
Ulissi ZW, Sen F, Gong X, Sen S, Iverson N, Boghossian AA, Godoy LC, Wogan GN, Mukhopadhyay D, Strano MS (2014) Spatiotemporal intracellular nitric oxide signaling captured using internalized, near-infrared fluorescent carbon nanotube nanosensors. Nano Lett 14(8):4887–4894
Mphuthi NG, Adekunle AS, Ebenso EE (2016) Electrocatalytic oxidation of epinephrine and norepinephrine at metal oxide doped phthalocyanine/MWCNT composite sensor. Sci Rep 6(1):26938
Suvarnaphaet P, Pechprasarn S (2017) Graphene-based materials for biosensors: a review. Sensors 17(10):2161
Liu Y, Dong X, Chen P (2012) Biological and chemical sensors based on graphene materials. Chem Soc Rev 41(6):2283–2307; Tang L, Wang Y, Li J (2015) The graphene/nucleic acid nanobiointerface. Chem Soc Rev 44(19):6954–6980
Ping J, Vishnubhotla R, Vrudhula A, Johnson ATC (2016) Scalable production of high-sensitivity, label-free DNA biosensors based on back-gated graphene field effect transistors. ACS Nano 10(9):8700–8704
Xie R, Wang Z, Zhou W, Liu Y, Fan L, Li Y, Li X (2016) Graphene quantum dots as smart probes for biosensing. Anal Methods 8(20):4001–4016
Kumawat MK, Thakur M, Gurung RB, Srivastava R (2017) Graphene quantum dots for cell proliferation, nucleus imaging, and photoluminescent sensing applications. Sci Rep 7(1)
Das M, Singh RP, Datir SR, Jain S (2013) Intranuclear drug delivery and effective in vivo cancer therapy via estradiol–PEG-appended multiwalled carbon nanotubes. Mol Pharm 10(9):3404–3416
Huang H, Yuan Q, Shah JS, Misra RDK (2011) A new family of folate-decorated and carbon nanotube-mediated drug delivery system: synthesis and drug delivery response. Adv Drug Deliv Rev 63(14–15):1332–1339
Singh S, Mehra NK, Jain NK (2016) Development and characterization of the paclitaxel loaded riboflavin and thiamine conjugated carbon nanotubes for cancer treatment. Pharm Res 33(7):1769–1781
Lee P-C, Lin C-Y, Peng C-L, Shieh M-J (2016) Development of a controlled-release drug delivery system by encapsulating oxaliplatin into SPIO/MWNT nanoparticles for effective colon cancer therapy and magnetic resonance imaging. Biomater Sci 4(12):1742–1753
Wang X, Wang C, Cheng L, Lee S-T, Liu Z (2012) Noble metal coated single-walled carbon nanotubes for applications in surface enhanced Raman scattering imaging and photothermal therapy. J Am Chem Soc 134(17):7414–7422
Kundu A, Nandi S, Das P, Nandi AK (2015) Fluorescent graphene oxide via polymer grafting: an efficient nanocarrier for both hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 7(6):3512–3523
Srivastava A, Yadav T, Sharma S, Nayak A, Akanksha Kumari A, Mishra N (2016) Polymers in drug delivery. J Biosci Med 04(01):69–84
Nigam P, Waghmode S, Louis M, Wangnoo S, Chavan P, Sarkar D (2014) Graphene quantum dots conjugated albumin nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery and imaging of pancreatic cancer. J Mater Chem B 2(21):3190–3195
Ding H, Zhang F, Zhao C, Lv Y, Ma G, Wei W, Tian Z (2017) Beyond a carrier: graphene quantum dots as a probe for programmatically monitoring anti-cancer drug delivery, release, and response. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 9(33):27396–27401
Tang F, Li L, Chen D (2012) Mesoporous silica nanoparticles: synthesis, biocompatibility and drug delivery. Adv Mater 24(12):1504–1534
Lin Y-S, Hurley KR, Haynes CL (2012) Critical considerations in the biomedical use of mesoporous silica nanoparticles. J Phys Chem Lett 3(3):364–374
He Q, Zhang Z, Gao F, Li Y, Shi J (2010) In vivo biodistribution and urinary excretion of mesoporous silica nanoparticles: effects of particle size and PEGylation. Small 7(2):271–280
Fu C, Liu T, Li L, Liu H, Chen D, Tang F (2013) The absorption, distribution, excretion and toxicity of mesoporous silica nanoparticles in mice following different exposure routes. Biomaterials 34(10):2565–2575
Ryu HJ, Seong NW, So BJ, Seo HS, Kim JH, Hong JS, Park MK, Kim MS, Kim YR, Cho KB, Seo MY (2014) Evaluation of silica nanoparticle toxicity after topical exposure for 90 days. Int J Nanomed: 127
Izquierdo-Barba I, Martinez Á, Doadrio AL, Pérez-Pariente J, Vallet-Regí M (2005) Release evaluation of drugs from ordered three-dimensional silica structures. Eur J Pharm Sci 26(5):365–373
Wang Y, Zhao Q, Han N, Bai L, Li J, Liu J, Che E, Hu L, Zhang Q, Jiang T, Wang S (2015). Mesoporous silica nanoparticles in drug delivery and biomedical applications. Nanomed Nanotechnol Biol Med 11(2):313–327
Elahi N, Kamali M, Baghersad MH (2018) Recent biomedical applications of gold nanoparticles: a review. Talanta 184:537–556
Hasan S (2015, Feb 11) A review on nanoparticles: their synthesis and types. Retrieved December 7, 2022, from scholar.googleusercontent.com
Janson O, Gururaj S, Pujari-Palmer S, Karlsson Ott M, Strømme M, Engqvist H, Welch K (2019) Titanium surface modification to enhance antibacterial and bioactive properties while retaining biocompatibility. Mater Sci Eng C 96:272–279
Sirelkhatim A, Mahmud S, Seeni A, Kaus NH, Ann LC, Bakhori SK, Hasan H, Mohamad D (2015) Review on zinc oxide nanoparticles: antibacterial activity and toxicity mechanism. Nano-Micro Lett 7(3):219–242
Bera RK, Mandal SM, Raj CR (2014) Antimicrobial activity of fluorescent Ag nanoparticles. Lett Appl Microbiol 58(6):520–526
Viswanathan A, Rangasamy J, Biswas R (2019) Functionalized antibacterial nanoparticles for controlling biofilm and intracellular infections. Surface Mod Nanoparticles Targeted Drug Del: 183–206
Nielsen PE, Egholm M (1999) An introduction to peptide nucleic acid. Curr Issues Mole Biol
Shakeel S, Karim S, Ali A (2006) Peptide nucleic acid (PNA)—a review. J Chem Technol Biotechnol 81(6):892–899
Suzuki KGN, Fujiwara TK, Edidin M, Kusumi A (2007) Dynamic recruitment of phospholipase Cγ at transiently immobilized GPI-anchored receptor clusters induces IP3–Ca2+ signaling: single-molecule tracking study 2. J Cell Biol 177(4):731–742
Dong H, Lei J, Ju H, Zhi F, Wang H, Guo W, Zhu Z, Yan F2012) Target-cell-specific delivery, imaging, and detection of intracellular MicroRNA with a multifunctional SnO2 nanoprobe. Angew Chem Int Ed 51(19):4607–4612
Zhang G-J, Chua JH, Chee R-E, Agarwal A, Wong SM (2009) Label-free direct detection of MiRNAs with silicon nanowire biosensors. Biosens Bioelectron 24(8):2504–2508
Kanchi S, Ahmed S (2018) Green metal nanoparticles: synthesis, characterization and their applications. Wiley-Scrivener
Suresh S (2013) Semiconductor nanomaterials, methods and applications: a review. Nanosci Nanotechnol 3(3):62–74
Xia Y et al (2003) One-dimensional nanostructures: synthesis, characterization, and applications. Adv Mater 15(5):353–389
Malik P et al (2014) Green chemistry based benign routes for nanoparticle synthesis. J Nanopart
Makarov VV et al (2014) “Green” nanotechnologies: synthesis of metal nanoparticles using plants. Acta Naturae (anglozyqna vepci). Obwectvocogpaniqenno otvetctvennoct Papk-media 6(1(20))
Mittal AK, Chisti Y, Banerjee UC (2013) Synthesis of metallic nanoparticles using plant extracts. Biotechnol Adv 31(2):346–356
Singh M et al (2012) Natural minerals and cancer. J Appl Pharm Sci 2(04):158–165
Ahmed EM (2015) Hydrogel: preparation, characterization, and applications: a review. J Adv Res 6(2):105–121
El-Newehy MH et al (2018) Green electrospining of hydroxypropyl cellulose nanofibres for drug delivery applications. J Nanosci Nanotechnol 18(2):805–814
Palit S (2017) Application of nanotechnology, nanofiltration and drinking and wastewater treatment—a vision for the future. In: Grumezescu AM (ed) Water purification, 1st edn. Academic Press, USA, pp 587–620
Palit S, Hussain CM (2018c) Environmental management and sustainable development, 1st edn. In: Hussain CM (ed) Springer handbook of environmental materials management. Springer Nature America, Inc., pp 1–17
Palit S, Hussain CM (2018d) Sustainable biomedical waste management, 1st edn. In: Hussain CM (ed) Springer handbook of environmental materials management. Springer Nature America, Inc., pp 1–23
Palit S, Hussain CM (2018e) Nanomembranes for environment, 1st edn. In: Hussain CM (ed) Springer handbook of environmental materials management. Springer Nature America, Inc., pp 1–24
Palit S, Hussain CM (2018f) Remediation of industrial and automobile exhausts for environmental management, 1st edn. In: Hussain CM (ed) Springer handbook of environmental materials management. Springer Nature America, Inc., pp 1–17
Palit S, Hussain CM (2018) Nanomaterials for environmental science: a recent and future perspective. In: Hussain CM, Mishra AK (eds) Nanotechnology in environmental science, 1st edn. Wiley, Weinheim, pp 3–18
Palit S (2017) Nanomaterials for industrial wastewater treatment and water purification. In: Martinez LMT, Kharissova OV, Kharisov BI (eds) Springer handbook of ecomaterials, 1st edn. Springer International Publishing, Springer Nature Switzerland AG, pp 1–41
Palit S (2018) Recent advances in corrosion science: a critical overview and a deep comprehension. In: Kharisov B (ed) Direct synthesis of metal complexes, 1st edn. Elsevier, USA, pp 379–410
Palit S (2018) Recent advances in the application of engineered nanomaterials in the environment industry-a critical overview and a vision for the future (Chap. 47). In: Hussain CM (ed) Handbook of nanomaterials for industrial applications, 1st edn. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 883–893
Palit S, Hussain CM (2018) Recent advances in green nanotechnology and the vision for the future (Chap. 1). In: Kanchi S, Ahmed S (eds) Green metal nanoparticles. Wiley Scrivener Publishing LLC, USA, pp 3–22
Palit S, Hussain CM (2018b) Engineered nanomaterial for industrial use (Chap. 1), 1st edn. In: Hussain CM (ed) Handbook of nanomaterials for industrial applications. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 3–12
Glaser JA (2012) Green chemistry with nanocatalysts. Clean Techn Environ Policy 14:513–520. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-012-0507-0
Nath D, Banerjee P, Das B (2014) Green nanomaterial-how green they are as biotherapeutic tool. J Nanomed Biotherapeutic Discov 4:2
Hasan S (2015) A review on nanoparticles: their synthesis and types. Res J Recent Sci: 2502. ISSN: 2277
Biao L, Tan S, Meng Q, Gao J, Zhang X, Liu Z, Fu Y (2018) Green synthesis, characterization and application of proanthocyanidins—functionalized gold nanoparticles. Nanomaterials 8(53):1–12
Wardencki W, Curylo J, Namiesnik J (2005) Green chemistry-current and future issues. Pol J Environ Stud 14(4):389–395
Palit S, Hussain CM (2018) Nanocomposites in packaging: a groundbreaking review and a vision for the future. In: Ahmed S (ed) Bio-based materials for food packaging. Springer Nature Singapore Pte. Ltd., Singapore, pp 287–303
Kalaivani R, Maruthupandy M, Muneeswaran T, Hameedha Beevi A, Anand M, Ramakritinan CM, Kumaraguru AK (2018) Synthesis of chitosan mediated silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) for potential antimicrobial applications. Front Labor Med 2(1):30–35
Lu Y, Ozcan S (2015) Green nanomaterials: on track for a sustainable future. Nano Today 10:417–420
Palit S, Hussain CM (2018) Biopolymers, nanocomposites and environmental protection: a farreaching review. In: Ahmed S (ed) Bio-based materials for food packaging. Springer Nature Singapore Pte. Ltd., Singapore, pp 217–236
Palit S, Hussain CM (2018) Green sustainability, nanotechnology and advanced materials—a critical overview and a vision for the future (Chap. 1). In: Ahmed S, Hussain CM (eds) Green and sustainable advanced materials-applications, vol 2. Wiley Scrivener Publishing, Beverley, pp 1–18
Rauwel P et al (2015) Silver nanoparticles: synthesis, properties, and applications. In: Advances in materials science and engineering. Hindawi
Chandrika UG et al (2006) Hypoglycaemic action of the flavonoid fraction of. Afr J Tradit Complement Altern Med 3(2):42–50
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Karki, Y., Verma, S.S., Naz, F. (2023). Biological Nanomaterials and Their Development. In: Khan, T., Jawaid, M., Ahmad, K.A., Singh, B. (eds) Nanomaterials: The Building Blocks of Modern Technology. Smart Nanomaterials Technology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-4149-0_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-4149-0_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-99-4148-3
Online ISBN: 978-981-99-4149-0
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceChemistry and Material Science (R0)