Converging Green Chemistry and Nanotechnology for Next-Generation Materials

Green Chemistry emphasizes the intentional design of chemical products and processes to reduce or eliminate hazardous substances through the Twelve Principles, making technologies safer, efficient, and economically viable. Nanotechnology, which manipulates materials below 100 nm, exploits unique size-dependent properties such as high surface activity and distinct optical, electronic, and magnetic behaviours, enabling applications in medicine, drug delivery, diagnostics, catalysis, sensors, energy storage, electronics, and antimicrobial materials. However, conventional nanoparticle synthesis often relies on toxic solvents, hazardous reducing agents, and energy-intensive methods that generate harmful by-products and limit biocompatibility. Green nanotechnology overcomes these drawbacks by integrating Green Chemistry principles into nanoparticle synthesis through biosynthetic routes using plants, microbes, and biomolecules; eco-friendly solvents or solvent-free systems; natural reducing and stabilizing agents; and energy-efficient methods such as microwave, ultrasound, and mechanochemistry. These green approaches emphasize the careful selection of non-toxic capping and reducing agents, the use of safe and innocuous solvents, and the development of sustainable, energy-efficient synthetic methods, thereby ensuring that environmental concerns are addressed at every stage of nanoparticle preparation. Together, these strategies reduce toxicity, waste, and energy use while enhancing stability, biocompatibility, and sustainability, thereby enabling the scalable production of well-defined nanomaterials with wide-ranging applications, particularly in safe and sustainable biomedical and technological innovations.

 Keywords: Green Chemistry, Nanotechnology, Green Nanotechnology, Biosynthesis