Pharmaceutical products are some of the most serious emergent pollutants in the environment, especially nowadays of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, nanogold-composite was prepared, and its catalytic activity for paracetamol degradation was investigated. Moreover, for the first time, recycled waste diatomite earth (WDE) from beer filtration was used for reproducible gold nanoparticle (Au NPs) preparation. We studied Au NPs by various psychical-chemical and analytical methods. Transmission and scanning electron microscopy were used for nanogold-composite morphology, size and shape characterization. Total element concentrations were determined using inductively coupled plasma mass and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. X-ray powder diffraction analysis was used for crystal structure characterization of samples. Fourier transform infrared spectrometer was used to study the chemical changes before and after Au NP formation. The results revealed that the WDE served as both a reducing and a stabilizing agent for crystalline spherical 30 nm Au NPs as well as acting as a direct support matrix. The kinetics of paracetamol degradation was studied by high-performance liquid chromatography with a photodiode array detector. The conversion of paracetamol was 62% and 67% after 72 h in the absence or presence of light irradiation, respectively, with 0.0126 h-1 and 0.0148 h-1 reaction rate constants. The presented study demonstrates the successful use of waste material from the food industry for nanogold-composite preparation and its application as a promising catalyst in paracetamol removal.

• Klíčová slova
• Biosynthesis, Catalyst, Nanogold-composite, Nanoparticles, Paracetamol, Reproducibility,
• MeSH
• COVID-19 * MeSH
• kovové nanočástice * chemie   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• pandemie MeSH
• paracetamol chemie   MeSH
• zlato chemie   MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• Názvy látek
• paracetamol MeSH
• zlato MeSH

Noble metals have played an integral part in human history for centuries; however, their integration with recent advances in nanotechnology and material sciences have provided new research opportunities in both academia and industry, which has resulted in a new array of advanced applications, including medical ones. Noble metal nanoparticles (NMNPs) have been of great importance in the field of biomedicine over the past few decades due to their importance in personalized healthcare and diagnostics. In particular, platinum, gold and silver nanoparticles have achieved the most dominant spot in the list, thanks to a very diverse range of industrial applications, including biomedical ones such as antimicrobial and antiviral agents, diagnostics, drug carriers and imaging probes. In particular, their superior resistance to extreme conditions of corrosion and oxidation is highly appreciated. Notably, in the past two decades there has been a tremendous advancement in the development of new strategies of more cost-effective and robust NMNP synthesis methods that provide materials with highly tunable physicochemical, optical and thermal properties, and biochemical functionalities. As a result, new advanced hybrid NMNPs with polymer, graphene, carbon nanotubes, quantum dots and core-shell systems have been developed with even more enhanced physicochemical characteristics that has led to exceptional diagnostic and therapeutic applications. In this review, we aim to summarize current advances in the synthesis of NMNPs (Au, Ag and Pt).

• Klíčová slova
• Biomedical applications, Diagnostics, Noble metal nanoparticles, Personal healthcare, Therapeutics,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• přehledy MeSH

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) belong to the most widely used nanoparticles in both commercial products and industrial applications. Hence, they are frequently released into the environment. Soil fungi can affect the mobilization of zinc from ZnO NPs in soils, and thus they can heavily influence the mobility and bioavailability of zinc there. Therefore, ubiquitous soil fungus Aspergillus niger was selected as a test organism to evaluate the fungal interaction with ZnO NPs. As anticipated, the A. niger strain significantly affected the stability of particulate forms of ZnO due to the acidification of its environment. The influence of ZnO NPs on fungus was compared to the aqueous Zn cations and to bulk ZnO as well. Bulk ZnO had the least effect on fungal growth, while the response of A. niger to ZnO NPs was comparable with ionic zinc. Our results have shown that soil fungus can efficiently bioaccumulate Zn that was bioextracted from ZnO. Furthermore, it influences Zn bioavailability to plants by ZnO NPs transformation to stable biogenic minerals. Hence, a newly formed biogenic mineral phase of zinc oxalate was identified after the experiment with A. niger strain's extracellular metabolites highlighting the fungal significance in zinc biogeochemistry.

• Klíčová slova
• biomineralization, biotransformation, fungal leaching, metal oxide nanoparticles, nanoparticle dissolution, nanoparticle mobility,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH