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-Fe2O3 nanoparticles by Alternaria alternata. The fungal biomass when exposed to aqueous iron(III) chloride solution led to the formation of highly stable γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles extracellularly. The influence of these biosynthesized γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles on the properties of hydroxyl propyl methyl cellulose was also investigated. Characterization of the biosynthesized γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles and HPMC-γ-Fe2O3 nanocomposite films were done by the different types of spectral and electron microscopic analysis. The size of the γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles ranges from 75 to 650 nm. The mechanical effect of the agglomerated γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles into the HPMC polymer matrix was also investigated.
Keywords: Biosynthesis; HPMC-nano composite films; Mechanical properties; Spectroscopy; γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles.