Biogenic Metal Based Nanomaterials as Antimicrobial Agents

Recently, there has been a significant interest on biogenic nanomaterials as part of nanotechnology which is a new branch of science that has a potential to solve many problems in medical sciences, drug delivery, electronics, agriculture, etc. This can be attributed to simple, eco-friendly and low-cost synthetic routes of these biogenic nanomaterials amongst other reasons. Greener nanomaterial synthesis includes the use biogenic materials such as extracts from plants to produce biogenic nanomaterials that have been employed for different used including as an antimicrobial agent in biomedical application. These biogenic nanomaterials include copper, silver, gold and titanium. Properties such as surface and size of the biogenic nanomaterials makes them very dependable for antimicrobial activities. This chapter focuses on the current trends on synthetic routes of different biogenic nanomaterials and their antimicrobial activity. The properties of the nanomaterials in relation to their antimicrobial activity are also correlated on this chapter.