Potential efficacy of bimetallic nanoparticles synthesized from extracellular cell-free extract of Penicillium citrinum against Culex quinquefasciatus mosquito larvae, and their photocatalytic activity

Abstract

The biological synthesis of nanoparticles finds application in the development of novel insecticides and bioremediation agents. In this study, bimetallic nanoparticles were synthesized using copper and zinc salts along with Penicillium citrinum secondary metabolite. The synthesized nanoparticles were analyzed for their insecticidal and photocatalytic efficacy on Culex quinquefasciatus larvae and organic dyes, respectively. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by UV spectroscopy, FTIR, XRD, SEM, EDX, and HR-TEM. The results showed fungal metabolite synthesized bimetallic nanoparticles were too toxic for Culex quinquefasciatus larvae, with LC₅₀ and LC₉₀ values of 1016.51 ppm, 4948.12 ppm for 24 h exposure; 184.80 ppm, 718.16 ppm for 48 h exposure, and 59.07 and 338.76 ppm for 72 h exposure, respectively. The Cu–Zn bimetallic nanoparticles showed mild photocatalytic activity on Xylenol orange (36%). This study shows that bimetallic NPs synthesized from Penicillium citrinum are advantageous for mosquito control as well as having photocatalytic dye degradation properties.

Keywords:

• Fungal metabolite
• mosquito control
• biological synthesis
• bimetallic nanoparticles
• textile dyes

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the infrastructural support provided by the Department of Biotechnology, Periyar University by DST—FIST (SR/FIST/LSI-673/2016). Mr. K. Balumahendhiran acknowledges the financial support provided by the University Research fellowship scheme (Ref No. PU/AD-3/URF/05104/23F72622/2023).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.