Synthesis and characterization of CdS nanoparticles using C-phycoerythrin from the marine cyanobacteria

In the background that the marine cyanobacteria offer great potentials as source of fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, biofuels, etc., in the present study the pigment, C-phycoerythrin (C-PE) extracted from the marine cyanobacterium, Phormidium tenue NTDM05 was used to synthesize CdS nanoparticles. The CdS nanoparticles thus synthesized were characterized adopting UV–Visible spectrum, Fourier transform infra-red spectrum, EDAX and transmission electron microscopy. The size of the CdS nanoparticles was found to be about 5 nm. Essentially, it was found that the pigment stabilized the CdS nanoparticles. The pigments labeled CdS nanoparticles could be applied as a biolabel.

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► Synthesis of CdS nanoparticles with natural pigment c-phycoerythrin.
► C-PE plays an important role in the formation of CdS nanoparticles and capping them.
► The spherical shaped 5 nm sized CdS nanoparticle have been synthesized.
► This may be the first report on the pigment based synthesis of CdS nanoparticles.