Recennt advances on chitosan-metal oxide nanoparticles and their biological application

There is a growing interest in the use of green resources for nanoparticle (NP) synthesis. Natural polymer, Chitosan (CH) has been employed as templates for the preparation of metal oxide NPs. They modify the surface characteristics of the nano metal oxides generated. In the presence of template CH, the spatial separation of the particles, enable the synthesis of highly crystalline, monodispersed particles of < 100 nm. The properties of metal oxides can be improved by combining with CH and the product can be employed for different applications. CH along with metal oxide NPs has recently been utilized as a stabilizing agent due to its excellent film-forming ability, mechanical strength, biocompatibility, non-toxicity, high permeability towards water, susceptibility to chemical modification and cost-effectiveness. Metal oxide NPs-CH based hybrid composites have attracted much interest for the development of desired biosensors, MRI agents, buffers, antibacterial agents etc.