Biosynthesis, characterization and cytotoxic activity of CeO2 nanoparticles

Cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO2-NPs) have been biosynthesized using the aqueous extract of aerial parts of Prosopis farcta. This plant contains phenolic compounds that function as reducing and capping agents. Biosynthesized particles have been characterized through the use of UV-vis, PXRD, TEM, FESEM, EDX, Raman and FTIR analysis. The UV-vis spectrum clearly showed absorption peak at 317 nm, which indicated the formation of spherical CeO2-NPs. It displayed in the FESEM and TEM images that the biosynthesized particles are uniformly and spherically shaped with a size of about 30 nm, while the EDX has clearly shown that only the elements Ce and O are present in the biosynthesized sample. Moreover, the Raman spectrum of synthesized nanoparticles has displayed a Ce-O stretching band at a measurement of 459 cm−1. The cytotoxic activity of biosynthesized nanoparticles against the HT-29 cancer cell line was studied using the MTT assay. All the concentrations of CeO2-NPs (0-800 µg/ml) showed non-toxic effects and thus, it can be suggested that these nanoparticles have the potential of being utilized in various fields of medicine, such as drug delivery.