It showed the efficiency of the new nanoparticles against several types of pathogenic fungi that damage cultivated plants. 

A team of researchers from Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University in Russia has obtained magnetic nanoparticles using a sweet flag (Acorus calamus). Both the roots and the leaves of this plant have antioxidant, antimicrobial, and insecticide properties. The extract of the sweet flag was used as a non-toxic reagent for the manufacture of coated particles. The authors of the work also showed the efficiency of the new nanoparticles against several types of pathogenic fungi that damage cultivated plants. A technology developed by the team provides for the manufacture of nanoparticles from a cheap plant-based raw material and reduces the harmful effect of reagents on the environment. The results of the study were published in the Nano-Structures & Nano-Objects journal.

“There are several methods of manufacturing coated nanoparticles with given characteristics, but all of them include toxic reagents. We have developed an environmentally friendly technology for the production of barium ferrite with the use of sweet flag extract. The surface of these particles has additional biological properties and the particles themselves possess all necessary magnetic and geometrical characteristics,” said Prof. Larissa Panina, a Ph.D. in Physics and Mathematics from BFU.

The team mixed an extract made from dried sweet flag roots with barium and iron salts and water. Then, the mixture was heated to evaporate the liquid and obtain powder. After that, the powder was sintered at temperatures up to 900°C, and nanoparticles were formed. To study their morphology, the team used scanning electron microscopy.