A Review on Plant Extract Based Route for Synthesis of Nickel Nanoparticles: Biological and Photo-catalytic Applications

Researchers have focused their efforts on nickel and nickel oxide nanoparticles due to their particular uses in a range of domains, including photocatalysis and antibacterial activity. As a result, numerous research projects utilising green synthesis approaches based on physical, chemical, and plant extracts have recently been published. Because they are affordable, biocompatible, and simple to scale up, plant extract-based green methods have been regarded as a good substitute to other approaches to the production of nanoparticles because they completely do away with the need for additional stabilising agents. In addition to a number of vitamins, plant extracts include significant amounts of phenols, alkaloids, terpenoids, tannins, and other phytochemicals. These phytochemicals serve as reducing, capping, reducing and stabilising agents during the synthesis of metallic nanoparticles from their corresponding precursors. Because of these unique properties of phytochemicals, nickel and nickel oxide nanoparticles have been effectively produced using green synthesis techniques using extracts of plant parts such as bark, roots, and leaves, among others. This review provides an overview of recent studies on the synthesis of nickel and nickel oxide nanoparticles from plant extracts and plant parts. The benefits of nickel nanoparticles in a range of applications, such as photocatalytic water contamination remediation and antibacterial activity, are highlighted in this paper with particular emphasis.