CHAPTER 6:Green Nanotechnology – a Sustainable Approach in the Nanorevolution

Nanotechnology has been touted to be a catalyst for the next industrial revolution with a market potential of over 1 Trillion dollars. Nanotechnology products, embedded with a variety of metallic and nonmetallic nanoparticles, are used in a myriad of applications from renewable energy, medical imaging, cancer therapy, in the design of smart materials, fast computers, heat transfer agents and as environmental restoration agents. As the nanotechnology revolution continues to unfold to unleash its power on our day-to-day lives, the environmental impacts of various nanotechnological production processes and finished products must be addressed right at the time of inception of this emerging technology. There is spawning fundamental and mission oriented research, in both academia and industry globally, toward applications of 100%“green” processes for the design and development of nanoparticles, which in turn will make their way into the design and development of finished products. Environmentally benign “green” nanotechnological processes are being developed to give the global corporate sectors the ability to design new products that are made from more ecofriendly materials including plants, crops, various phytochemicals and phytoconstructs, using processes that use less energy and generate less waste throughout the product lifecycle. This chapter summarizes results of our green nanotechnology-based production of biocompatible gold nanoparticles and their biomedical applications. In particular, this chapter discusses the application of redox-active phytochemicals, from a plethora of naturally available herbs including tea, cinnamon and cumin, for the production of gold nanoparticles in a 100% green and ecofriendly approach.