Recent achievements in the microbial synthesis of semiconductor metal sulfide nanoparticles

Taking the advantage of several species of microorganisms, different kinds of chalcogenide nanocrystals have been bio-fabricated in intra/extracellular modes with interesting specifications. However, the most extensive research among these semiconducting materials has been focused on metal sulfides. Generally, bacteria, fungi or other microorganisms convert dissolved sulfate ions into reduced sulfides using certain enzymes and under different conditions, and subsequently, the sulfide anions react with soluble metal cations to generate the insoluble metal sulfide precipitates. Recently, in addition to the biosynthesis procedure, the bio-produced nanomaterials have been examined for their applications as photo-catalysis materials, electrical devices, and antibacterial and antifungal agents. Therefore, the present review is an attempt to collect the available literatures published worldwide on the biosynthesis of semiconductor metal sulfide nanocrystals and concisely compare and evaluate the applied techniques and approaches with an insight into the practical use of their product. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.