Biological synthesis and characterization of iron oxide (FeO) nanoparticles using Pleurotus citrinopileatus extract and its biomedical applications

One promising, environmentallybeneficial, and safer process is the green production of nanoparticles. The synthesis of nanoparticles will be done in the absence of hazardous chemicals by using fungal sources as reducing agents. Iron oxide nanoparticles (FeONPs) were created synthesized in the current study using an aqueous extract of Pleurotus citrinopileatus (PC). The PC-FeONPs were further characterized using UV–vis spectroscopy, which revealed a visible peak at 254 nm. An X-ray diffractometer was used to determine the crystalline form of the synthesized NPs. The crystallite size of the synthesized NPs was 14.5 nm, and XRD revealed that they were present in their purest crystalline form. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) demonstrated the existence of Fe metallic ions. SEM–EDX and HR-TEM analysis performed indicated the presence of agglomerated hexagonal and spherical shape. The biosynthesized PC-FeONPs exhibited antibacterial activity against Gram-negative and Gram-positive microbes. PC-FeONPs have shown greater antibacterial efficacy against E. coli (8.1±0.3), B. cereus (7. 2±0.4), and K. pneumoniae (3.1±0.3 mm) growth inhibitions. The PC-FeONPs had considerable in vitro anticancer activity against the human lung cancer cell line A549, and their IC50 value was determined to be 39.12 µg/mL. The findings indicated that the synthesized PC-FeONPs can be used in cancer therapy and also in the treatment of microbial infections.