Eco-Friendly Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles by Bacillus subtilis and Their Environmental Applications

Biosynthesis of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) is an eco-friendly, cost effective and nontoxic alternative to chemical and physical methods. The microbe which inhabits nearly all surfaces on the earth, an attainment typically attributed to their metabolic adaptability. The organism which resides in gold mines would be having more capability to resist against soluble gold toxicity and produce gold nanoparticles efficiently. In the present study, we report for the synthesis of GNPs by a member of Bacillus subtilis isolated from Hutti gold mine, India. The synthesis of GNPs was observed by a color change from yellow to pink and confirmed by a peak around 545 nm using a UV-visible spectroscopy. The synthesized GNPs were further characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that synthesized GNPs are well dispersed and their size ranges 20-25 nm. The present work is aimed to use green synthesized GNPs as catalyst to degrade Methylene blue (MB) and these GNPs could be used to degrade toxic dyes in the environment.