Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the launch of the second edition of the Special Issue “Plant-Based Green Synthesis of Nanoparticles: Production, Characterization and Application” (https://0-www-mdpi-com.brum.beds.ac.uk/journal/biomolecules/special_issues/green_synthesis_nanoparticles).

Nanotechnology is an interdisciplinary area of research taking advantage of core techniques used in various disciplines like chemistry, engineering, physics and biological sciences, and leading to the development of novel strategies to manipulate minute particles resulting in the production of nanoparticles (NPs). These NPs may be defined as particles with at least one dimension ranging from 1–100 nm. Nanotechnology deals with the synthesis, development and applications of a variety of NPs. These NPs are generally produced via laborious and hazard-prone physical and chemical methods. According to the safety-by-design principle, during the last decade a large array of safe, facile, cost effective, reproducible and scalable green synthesis approaches of NPs have been developed. Among these green biological methods, plant-based biosynthesis of NPs is considered a gold technique due to easy availability and the diverse nature of plants. The potential of plant extracts to produce NPs that have definite size and shape, as well as composition, is of great importance. Moreover, the great diversity of phytochemicals readily available in plant extracts can be utilized in this green approach as the natural stabilizing and reducing agents for the biosynthesis of NPs. Plant-derived NPs are also prone to present less harmful side effects to the human population as compared to chemically synthesized NPs, and exhibit high biological potential with applications in various domains such as in agriculture (e.g. in precision farming with controlled release of agrochemicals, target-specific delivery of biomolecules, more efficient nutrients absorption, detection and control of plant diseases, etc.), in food science and technology (e.g. in processing, storage and packaging processes), in bioengineering (biocatalysts, photocatalysts, biosensors, etc.), in cosmetic (e.g. sunscreen, anti-aging, hair growth, bioactive compounds delivery, nanoemulsion, etc.) or in nanomedicine and human health protection (e.g. antimicrobial, antiparasitic, antiproliferative, pro-apoptotic, pro- or anti-oxidative depending on the context, anti-inflammatory activities, etc.). Recently, NPs have also emerged as a novel effective elicitor in plant in vitro systems with the ability to enhance the synthesis of bioactive secondary metabolites, thus further increasing the potential applications spectra of plant-based NPs.

We encourage investigators to consider submitting reviews, regular research papers and short communications to this Special Issue of Biomolecules aiming to highlight the most novel and promising developments in this field.

Dr. Christophe Hano
Dr. Bilal Haider Abbasi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biomolecules is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• nanoparticles
• green synthesis
• green biotechnology
• biological activities
• human health
• pharmaceuticals
• cosmeceuticals
• food science and technology
• precision agriculture