Bioreduction of trivalent aurum to nano-crystalline gold particles by active and inactive cells and cell-free extract of Aspergillus oryzae var. viridis

Bioreduction efficacy of both active (AB) and inactive (IB) cells/biomass of Aspergillus oryzae var. viridis and their respective cell-free extracts (ACE and ICE) to convert trivalent aurum to gold nanoparticles were tested in the present study. Strong plasmon resonance of gold nanoparticles was observed between 540 and 560 nm in the samples obtained from AB, IB, ACE and ICE. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were performed to examine the formation of gold nanoparticles. Comparing all four forms of A. oryzae var. viridis, ICE showed high gold nanoparticle productivity. The nanoparticles formed were quite uniform in shape and ranged in size from 10 to 60 nm. In addition some triangle, pentagon and hexagon-shaped nanoplates with size range of 30-400 nm were also synthesized especially at lower pH. Organics from the inactive cells are believed to be responsible for reduction of trivalent aurum to nano-sized gold particles. Organic content of the ICE was found to be double the amount of ACE. High productivity of gold nanoparticles by metabolic-independent process opens up an interesting area of nanoparticle synthesis using waste fungal biomass from industries.