An eco-friendly route of γ-FeO nanoparticles formation and investigation of the mechanical properties of the HPMC-γ-FeO nanocomposites.

In recent times, biosynthetic approaches toward the synthesis of nanoparticles have been shown to have several advantages over physical and chemical methods. Here, we report the extracellular mycosynthesis of γ-FeO nanoparticles by Alternaria alternata. The fungal biomass when exposed to aqueous iron(III) chloride solution led to the formation of highly stable γ-FeO nanoparticles extracellularly. The influence of these biosynthesized γ-FeO nanoparticles on the properties of hydroxyl propyl methyl cellulose was also investigated. Characterization of the biosynthesized γ-FeO nanoparticles and HPMC-γ-FeO nanocomposite films were done by the different types of spectral and electron microscopic analysis. The size of the γ-FeO nanoparticles ranges from 75 to 650 nm. The mechanical effect of the agglomerated γ-FeO nanoparticles into the HPMC polymer matrix was also investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]