INFLUENCE OF PLANT PHYTOCHEMICALS ON THE GREEN SYNTHESIS AND FUNCTIONAL PROPERTIES OF METAL OXIDE NANOPARTICLES: A REVIEW
K. G. Wankar*, A. D. Kale, M. W. Bhade, P. P. Sanditrao, D. H. Patil
ABSTRACT
Plant-mediated (green) synthesis of metal oxide nanoparticles (MONPs) has attracted sustained interest as an environmentally compatible alternative to conventional chemical routes, with phytochemicals serving as reducing, chelating, and capping agents throughout nucleation, crystal growth, and stabilization. Existing reviews typically address this literature one metal oxide or one plant species at a time, making it difficult to judge whether the underlying phytochemical mechanisms actually generalize across systems. This review instead takes a comparative approach across eight widely studied MONPs, ZnO, TiO₂, Fe₃O₄, CuO, CeO₂, MgO, NiO, and MnOₓ, examining how a broadly shared synthesis pathway nonetheless produces materially different functional outcomes depending on each oxide's intrinsic physicochemical properties. Structure–property relationships, synthesis-condition effects, and application domains are considered alongside several unresolved debates, including the role of specific phytochemical classes, the reduction mechanism itself, and the balance between antioxidant surface coatings and reactive-oxygen-species-mediated activity. The analysis indicates that the nanoparticle property most sensitive to phytochemical control, particle size, phase composition, magnetic phase purity, or oxygen-vacancy concentration, among others, differs systematically by oxide family, offering a framework for application-specific extract and condition selection rather than a universal green-synthesis protocol.
Keywords: Nanotechnology; Phytochemicals; Metal oxide nanoparticles; Biogenic nanoparticles; Green synthesis; Structure–property relationships.
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