Environmental Nanotechnology: Nanoparticles for Bioremediation of Toxic Pollutants

The size dependent behaviour of any particle relates to some of its unique properties. This gave rise to rapidly growing field of Nanosciences. Nanotechnology has attracted considerable interest of both scientific and industrial community in the past few years. Nanotechnology inter-relates various research areas and applied sciences like physics, chemistry, biology, electronics and material sciences. It is often described as an emerging technology which is truly capable of revolutionizing our approaches to common problems. Nanotechnology involves the design, characterization, production and application of structures/particles by controlling their size and shape at nanoscale. An important challenge in nanotechnology is to engineer particles with desired optical and electronic properties by controlling their size and shape. This can be achieved by chemical processes and also by biological agents. Utilization of microorganisms for intracellular/extracellular synthesis of nanoparticles with different chemical composition, size, shapes and controlled monodispersity (of similar size and shape) can be a novel biological, economically viable and eco-friendly means for biosynthesis of nanoparticles. Nanotechnology holds promise in improving various aspects of life ranging from medicine to industrial materials. Also, Nanotechnology has much more to offer to environmental protection, reduction and clean-up of pollution, energy production and conservation. This chapter is an attempt to introduce the readers to the nanoworld and its use for bioremediation of toxic pollutants in the environment. This discussion also raises some of the important questions like what will be the fate of nanomaterials released in the environment and their consequent impact on the ecosystem.