ABSTRACT
Recent years have seen a growing interest in the application of chalcogenide (e.g. Se, Te and CdSe) nanoparticles (NPs) in various industrial sectors including energy, food, cosmetic, steel and glass (Mal et al., 2016d). Microbial reduction of chalcogen oxyanions is a promising technology for bioremediation and treatment of Se/Te wastewaters and remains a matter of interest and discussion. This thesis aimed to develop a microbial synthesis process to produce chalcogenide NPs from synthetic wastewater by combining bioremediation and biorecovery of Se/Te in the form of Se/Te chalcogenide nanoparticles. The sub-objectives were: biogenic Se and Te NPs production (Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 7), biosynthesis of CdSe NPs (Chapters 5, 6), studying the fate and toxicity of biogenic Se NPs (Chapter 8 ). This Chapter 9 provides a valuable insight into the current state of the microbial synthesis of chalcogenide NPs, indicating the current challenges and future perspectives of these technologies based on the findings of the present thesis (Fig. 9.1). All these results can certainly be exploited to develop microbial synthesis of NPs of other metal (e.g. Se-Te, CuSe, and CuTe) in the near future.
