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Scalable economic extracellular synthesis of CdS nanostructured particles by a non-pathogenic thermophile

  • Fermentation, Cell Culture and Bioengineering
  • Published:
Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology

Abstract

We report microbially facilitated synthesis of cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanostructured particles (NP) using anaerobic, metal-reducing Thermoanaerobacter sp. The extracellular CdS crystallites were <10 nm in size with yields of ~3 g/L of growth medium/month with demonstrated reproducibility and scalability up to 24 L. During synthesis, Thermoanaerobacter cultures reduced thiosulfate and sulfite salts to H2S, which reacted with Cd2+ cations to produce thermodynamically favored NP in a single step at 65 °C with catalytic nucleation on the cell surfaces. Photoluminescence (PL) analysis of dry CdS NP revealed an exciton-dominated PL peak at 440 nm, having a narrow full width at half maximum of 10 nm. A PL spectrum of CdS NP produced by dissimilatory sulfur reducing bacteria was dominated by features associated with radiative exciton relaxation at the surface. High reproducibility of CdS NP PL features important for scale-up conditions was confirmed from test tubes to 24 L batches at a small fraction of the manufacturing cost associated with conventional inorganic NP production processes.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO), Nanomanufacturing for Energy Efficiency (NT08845) and by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program of ORNL (L05512). Part of this research was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is sponsored at the ORNL Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. DOE. The ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the U.S. DOE under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725. The authors also appreciate James G. Elkins for constructive comments, Tae Hwan Kim for peak analysis, and Sue Carroll for cell counting.

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Author notes

  1. Anil K. Suresh

    Present address: Department of Molecular Medicine, City of Hope, 1500 East Duarte Road, Duarte, CA, 91010, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA

    Ji-Won Moon, Anil K. Suresh, Hyunsung Jung, Robert J. Lauf & Tommy J. Phelps

  2. Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA

    Ilia N. Ivanov & Adam J. Rondinone

  3. Materials Science and Technology Division, ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA

    Chad E. Duty & Claudia J. Rawn

  4. Measurement Science and Systems Engineering Division, ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA

    Lonnie J. Love

  5. Environmental Sciences Division, ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA

    Wei Wang

  6. Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Yi-Liang Li

  7. School of Geology and Geophysics, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, 73019, USA

    Andrew S. Madden

  8. Stroud Water Research Center, Avondale, PA, 19311, USA

    Jennifer J. Mosher

  9. Energy and Transportation Science Division, ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831, USA

    Michael Z. Hu

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Correspondence to Ji-Won Moon.

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Moon, JW., Ivanov, I.N., Duty, C.E. et al. Scalable economic extracellular synthesis of CdS nanostructured particles by a non-pathogenic thermophile. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 40, 1263–1271 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-013-1321-3

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