Review article 

iq.unesp.br/ecletica 

| Vol. 46 | n. 4 | 2021 | 

 

 

17                                   Eclética Química Journal, vol. 46, n. 4, 2021, 17-37 

ISSN: 1678-4618 

DOI: 10.26850/1678-4618eqj.v46.4.2021.p17-37 
 

Green synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles for biomedical 

application and environmental remediation: a review 
 
Sunday Adewale Akintelu1,2 , Abel Kolawole Oyebamiji2,3 , Seyifunmi Charles Olugbeko4 , Aderonke 
Similoluwa Folorunso5+  

 
1. Beijing Institute of Technology, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beijing, China. 
2. Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Ogbomoso, 
Nigeria. 
3. Adeleke University, Department of Basic Sciences, Ede, Nigeria. 
4. Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Department of Agricultural Economics, Ogbomoso, Nigeria. 
5. Louisiana State University, Department of Chemistry, Louisiana, United States of America. 
 
+Corresponding author: Aderonke Similoluwa Folorunso, Phone: +2348136872649, Email address: folorunsoaderonkesimi@gmail.com 
 

 

ARTICLE INFO 

 

Article history: 

Received: July 20, 2020 

Accepted: March 17, 2021 

Published: October 01, 2021 

 

Section Editor: Assis Vicente Benedetti 

 

 

Keywords 

1. biosynthesis 

2. characterization techniques 

3. optimization 

4. plant 

 

 

 
 

  

ABSTRACT: Ferrous oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) 

formed from plant materials have been considered as 

chemically friendly materials and have offered extensive 

applications. The distinctive features of IONPs, such as 

biocompatibility, low toxicity, catalytic behavior and multi 

reaction mechanism, have embodied them as good 

candidate for several biomedical applications. However, the 

synthesis of IONPs using plant extracts is gaining high 

popularity and recommendations because plant extracts 

could act as reducing and stabilizing agents during the 

process of synthesis. Furthermore, the biological method of 

synthesizing IONPs using plant extract offer some benefits, 

such as being simple, economic, environmentally friendly 

and require less energy when compared with both physical  

and chemical methods of synthesis. Hence, this review significantly summarized the synthesis, optimum conditions and 

characterization techniques involved in the synthesis of IONPs using several plant extracts. Consequently, comprehensive 

information about the applications of green synthesized IONPs as antimicrobial and anticancer therapeutic agents were well 

presented. The effectiveness of IONPs in environmental treatment of effluent containing dyes and other toxic agents were 

also properly discussed. 

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https://doi.org/10.26850/1678-4618eqj.v46.4.2021.p17-37
mailto:folorunsoaderonkesimi@gmail.com
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8919-3029
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8932-6327
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7809-0382
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6720-5516


Review article 

iq.unesp.br/ecletica 

18                                   Eclética Química Journal, vol. 46, n. 4, 2021, 17-37 

ISSN: 1678-4618 

DOI: 10.26850/1678-4618eqj.v46.4.2021.p17-37 

CONTENTS 

 

1. Introduction 

2. Synthesis of IONPs 

2.1 Physical methods 

2.2 Chemical methods 

2.3 Biological method 

2.3.1 Microorganism based IONPs synthesis 

2.3.2 Plant based IONPs synthesis 

2.4 Possible mechanism for the synthesis of IONPs 

3. Optimization 

3.1 Effect of precursor 

3.2 Effect of concentration of precursor 

3.3 Effect of pH 

3.4 Effect of temperature 

3.5 Time or reaction and incubation 

3.6 Effect of type of plant extracts and concentrations 

of on IONPs synthesis 

4. Characterization techniques 

4.1 Nanoparticle formation analysis 

4.2 Functional group identification 

4.3 Morphological assessment of IONPs 

4.3.1 Transmission electron microscope (TEM) 

4.3.2 Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) 

4.3.3 Atomic force microscopy (AFM) 

4.3.4 Elemental composition 

4.3.4.1 Energy dispersive X-ray spectra (EDX) 

4.3.4.2 Crystallinity evaluation 

5. Applications of IONPs synthesized from plant 

extract 

5.1 Antimicrobial applications 

5.2 Anticancer applications 

5.3 Environmental application 

6. Conclusion 

 

1. Introduction 
 

Nanoscience and nanotechnology have emerged as 

an innovative field of research with numerous 

applications in technological and scientific aspects 

including medical sciences, applied sciences, material 

science, catalysis, electronics, biofilm and 

biotechnology (Assa et al., 2016). The smaller sizes of 

nanoparticles (NPs) compared with large biomolecules 

have been reported to enhance their interactions with 

several biological molecules, which may revolutionize 

microbial treatment and cancer diagnosis (Alharbi and 

Al-sheikh, 2014). Among the various kinds of metals 

and metal oxides NPs, iron oxide NPs are one of the 

most prominent metal oxide NPs. The exceptional 

attribute of ferrous oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) has 

widened its horizon and applications in medical 

sciences and many other industries, such as gas sensor, 

electrochemical, magnetic and energy storage 

(Vallabani and Singh, 2018). The superparamagnetic 

behavior of iron oxide NPs has promoted its extensive 

applications in several areas, such as imaging, drug 

delivery, targeting and biosensors. Furthermore, their 

unique properties, such as biocompatibility, potent 

magnetic, low toxicity and catalytic behavior, have 

contributed massively to its biomedical applications 

(Vallabani and Singh, 2018). Various types of IONPs, 

such as maghemite (γ-Fe2O3) hematite (α-Fe2O3) and 

magnetite (Fe3O3) NPs, have been reported as efficient 

therapeutic agents against several infections due to 

their morphological properties (Yadav and Fulekar, 

2018). Physical and chemical methods like chemical 

precipitation, mineralization, sol-gel, flow injection, 

microemulsion, hydrothermal technique, biomimetic 

precipitation, forced hydrolysis technique, 

sonochemical technique and electrochemical technique 

have been chosen for the synthesis of IONPs (Gebre 

and Sendeku, 2019). The biological methods of 

synthesizing metal and metal oxides have been 

regarded as the most preferred method due to its cost-

effectiveness, safety and easy protocol of synthesis (El 

Shafey, 2020). However, the biological method of 

synthesizing IONPs is classified into two main parts; 

the first category involves the use of microorganisms 

such as algae, bacteria and fungi as reducing agent 

while the other form entails the use of plant extracts as 

reducing and stabilizing agents (Salem et al., 2019; 

Yew et al., 2020). The capability of plant extracts to 

function as good reducing and stabilizing agents by 

reducing particle size and improve reactivity was 

contributed to the general acceptance of biological 

synthesis of metal and metal oxides from plant sources 

(Akintelu and Folorunso, 2019a; Akintelu et al., 2019a; 

Bashir et al., 2019; Folorunso et al., 2019). Plant 

extracts used for the synthesis of metal and metal 

oxides have been reported to show better stability and 

more acquiescent to large scale production of NPs 

when compared with the biological approach of 

synthesis that uses microorganisms (Akintelu and 

Folorunso, 2019b; Akintelu et al., 2019b; Kamran et 

al., 2019). The effectiveness of plants extracts as good 

reducing and stabilizing agents are linked with the 

presence of biomolecules such as flavonoids, alkaloids, 

terpenoids, and other hydroxyl containing functional 

groups which coat the surface of the NPs, prevent 

agglomeration and aid the production of NPs with 

uniform particle size (Gunarani et al., 2019). 

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19                                    Eclética Química Journal, vol. 46, n. 4, 2021, 17-37 

ISSN: 1678-4618 

DOI: 10.26850/1678-4618eqj.v46.4.2021.p17-37 

Therefore, this review primarily focuses on the recent 

developments in the biosynthesis of IONPs using plant 

extracts. The various methods used for the synthesis of 

IONPs were briefly discussed. The mechanism of 

formation of IONPs using plant extract, the techniques 

used for the characterization of IONPs were 

highlighted. Then, the application of biosynthesized 

IONPs in the biomedicine and environmental waste 

management is summarized. 

 

2. Synthesis of IONPs 
 

Many reports have shown that the application of 

IONPs depend largely on the method of synthesis used 

(Arsalani et al., 2019). The preparation method 

determines the size distribution, particle sizes, shape 

and surface morphology which further influenced their 

applications. Moreover, the preparation method has 

been reported as the determinant factor for the degree 

of structural defects and impurity level of IONPs (Roca 

et al., 2019). Several methods and protocols such as 

physical, chemical and biological have been designed 

for the synthesis of IONPs with desired morphological 

features and magnetic properties (Palma et al., 2018). 

 

2.1 Physical methods 
 

Physical methods are based on the use of electrical 

fields and some other physical phenomena as the 

reducing agent during the synthesis of IONPs. The 

most reoccurring one is particle growth, which is based 

on physical processes and top-down approach. 

Examples of such techniques are sonochemical, 

lithography, sputtering, microwaves irradiation and 

laser ablation. The sonochemical technique 

encompasses the sonication of an aqueous ferric 

solution at ambient conditions and in the presence of 

air (Nisticò, 2021). Ultrasounds generate irregular 

compression and expansion acoustic waves which 

cause the oscillation of the microbubbles (Wu et al., 

2015). When the bubbles collapse a localized hot spot 

is formed at high temperature around 4500 °C and 

pressure of about 1000 bar which enhanced the 

conversion of iron precursors into IONPs (Pinkas et al., 

2008). The IONPs produced via this technique have 

high stability and remarkable magnetic properties. 

Despite the aforementioned advantages it is difficult to 

control the shape of IONPs produced from this 

technique (Ali et al., 2016). 

Microwaves irradiation approach uses an 

electromagnetic source with wavelength in the range of 

1–103 mm as reducing agent (Nisticò, 2017). The 

radiation during this process causes molecules to align 

with the external field to generate motion that produces 

internal heating. This process has the advantages of 

reduction in treatment time and energy consumption. 

Also purified IONPs are mostly obtained. 

Notwithstanding, a report has revealed that this 

technique is limited because IONPs produced have 

poor morphological features and low surface reactivity 

(Pascu et al., 2012). 

The electrochemical technique encompasses the 

immersion of galvanic cell with two electrodes (usually 

made up of iron) into a saline solution (Nisticò, 2021). 

This process involves iron electro-oxidation and 

electrolysis of water at the anode, alongside water 

reduction at the cathode. The electrochemical 

technique is affected by parameters such as working 

distance between electrodes, pH, reaction time and 

temperature. These techniques allow easy control of 

particle size and IONPs with hydrophilic surfaces are 

usually obtained (Cabrera et al., 2008). 

 

2.2 Chemical methods 
 

The chemical approach of synthesizing IONPs 

depends on the growth of iron oxides from the liquid 

phase via the use of some chemical reagents. Among 

the several protocols and techniques used for the 

chemical method of synthesis such as co-precipitation, 

micro-emulsion, sol-gel and polyol-mediated 

technique, co-precipitation technique is the most 

common and simplest (Lenders et al., 2016; Pang et al., 

2016). Co-precipitation entails the stoichiometric 

mixture of iron precursor in presence of a 

basic conditions, following the given reaction pathway 

(Eq. 1). 

 

2Fe3+ + Fe2+ + 8OH− → Fe3O4 + 4H2O (1) 

 

Acidic iron ions (Fe3+ or Fe2+) when introduced into 

basic solution precipitates to form IONPs because 

magnetite is poorly soluble in basic condition. The 

formation of magnetite or maghemite NPs using the 

co-precipitation route depends on the ratio of Fe3+ or 

Fe2+ used (Nisticò et al., 2017a). The temperature 

requirement for the co-precipitation route is in the 

range of (20–250 °C) (Franzoso et al., 2017; Nisticò, 

2017b). The following parameters iron precursor and 

ratio used, ionic strength, temperature, stirring rate and 

pH influences the size and shape of IONPs synthesized 

via the co-precipitation technique (Yazdani and 

Seddigh, 2016). Co-precipitation technique has been 

reported as the famous chemical methods for 

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Review article 

iq.unesp.br/ecletica 

20                                    Eclética Química Journal, vol. 46, n. 4, 2021, 17-37 

ISSN: 1678-4618 

DOI: 10.26850/1678-4618eqj.v46.4.2021.p17-37 

synthesizing IONPs with control size distribution and 

high yields. However, this process suffers from some 

disadvantages such as the use of hazardous chemical 

reagents and difficulties in controlling the shape IONPs 

(Nisticò et al., 2017a). 

The micro-emulsion process is another form of 

chemical method. In this process iron precursor either 

in water or oil biphasic system is exploited in the 

presence of amphiphilic molecules in form of block 

copolymers or sometimes surfactants such as cetyl 

trimethyl ammonium bromide or polyvinyl pyrrolidone 

at the interface (Nisticò, 2017). As a result of the dual 

nature (i.e., occurrence of both hydrophilic head and 

hydrophobic tail) of the amphiphiles macro molecules, 

the species moved at the interface of the two 

immiscible phases form covalent bonds and also 

assemble themselves into supramolecular aggregates of 

various shapes (Nisticò, 2018). The micro-emulsion 

process has advantages of narrow size IONPs 

production and easy shape regulation. However, the 

process has some disadvantages, such as low yield, 

impure products and formation of agglomeration (Wu 

et al., 2015). 

Sol–gel technique involves acid/based-catalyzed 

hydrolysis and condensation of precursors from 

colloidal solutions to produce condensed network of 

iron oxides (Nisticò et al., 2017b). Iron alkoxides or 

iron salts are the main precursor for this technique 

because they can easily react through hydrolysis or 

condensation to yield oxides (Lemine et al., 2012). 

Polyol-mediated technique entail the use of polyols 

as the reducing and stabilizing agents to aid the shape 

and size control during the synthesis of IONPs 

(Nisticò, 2021). This process is based on spreading iron 

containing precursors such as alkoxides in liquid 

polyols and heat to its boiling point. A report has 

shown that IONPs synthesized by polyol-mediated 

techniques are highly crystalline and can be easily 

dispersed into polar media due to their hydrophilic 

surfaces. Conversely, this technique has the limitation 

of generating toxic byproducts (Wu et al., 2015). 

 

2.3 Biological method 
 

The biological method of synthesizing IONPs is 

classified into two major routes, namely 

microorganism and plant based IONPs synthesis. 

 

2.3.1 Microorganism based IONPs synthesis 
 

Synthesis of IONPs using microorganism has gained 

huge attention over the past few decades due to some 

advantages over conventional chemical and physical 

methods of synthesis. The advantages of 

microorganism based IONPs synthesis include relative 

abundance of microorganism, production of less toxic 

byproducts, consumption of less power and energy 

because synthesis is carried out at room temperature 

and it tolerates large scale production (Park et al., 

2016). Microorganisms such as bacteria, algae, fungi 

and yeast have been used for the synthesis of IONPs 

via intracellular or extracellular mechanism. The 

intracellular mechanism involves the enzymatic 

reduction of metal ions or metal oxide ion via 

electrostatic bounding to the cell wall of 

microorganism, the ions diffused into the cell and 

cause some interaction with enzymes to form IONPs 

(Mukherjee, 2017). The extracellular mechanism 

entails the enzymatic reduction of iron ions, producing 

small size distribution and well dispersed NPs with 

genes, peptides or protein that function as reducing 

agents, which in turn stabilizes and prevent 

agglomeration of IONPs (Singh et al., 2016). 

 

2.3.2 Plant based IONPs synthesis 
 

This is the process of synthesizing IONPs using 

extracts obtained from parts of plants, such as back, 

leaves, root, shoot, stems or the whole plant. In 

general, the desired plant part is obtained, sorted and 

washed to remove any impurities (solid or particles), 

air dried, chopped/mercerized to provide good surface 

area for extraction (Bolade et al., 2018). The extraction 

of their chemical constituents is accomplished by 

soaking the air-dried plant part at room temperature or 

boiled at elevated temperature to obtain the desired 

amount of extract (Bolade et al., 2020). This depends 

on the successful extraction of bioactive constituents in 

plant extracts. These bioactive constituents (phenols, 

tannins, saponins, alkaloids, organic acids, flavonoids 

and vitamins) function as reducing agents during the 

IONPs synthesis by reacting with the iron precursor 

(iron chloride, iron nitrate or iron sulphate) to produce 

IONPs, which are further stabilized by the chemical 

constituent present in the extract (Sorbiun et al., 2018). 

Several studies have reported the use of water as 

extracting solvent in the extraction of bioactive 

components of plants during the synthesis of IONPs 

(Prabhakar et al., 2017). Leaves, peel, bark and fruits 

of green plants have been studied for the eco-friendly 

synthesis of IONPs, as showed in Tabs. 1 and 2. The 

methods of synthesizing iron oxide NPs are illustrated 

in Fig. 1. 

 

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21                                                                                           Eclética Química Journal, vol. 46, n. 3, 2021, 17-37 

ISSN: 1678-4618 

DOI: 10.26850/1678-4618eqj.v46.4.2021.p17-37 

Table 1. Characterization techniques of biosynthesized IONPs from some plant materials. 

S/N Plants name 
Plants 

parts 
SPR peak/nm 

Band/nm 

Functional group prediction 

Techniques for 

morphological assessment 
Shape Size References 

1 Punica granatum Seeds 372 - - UV, XRD, EDX, SEM, AFM Spherical 25–55 Bibi et al., 2019 

2 Magnifera indica Peel 250–280 

3334 O-H 

XRD, UV, FTIR, XPS, EDX - - Desalegn et al., 2019 2973 C-H 

1654 C=O 

3 Cynara cardunculus Leaf - 
3306 O-H 

UV–Vis, XRD, FTIR, SEM Semi-spherical 13.5 Ruíz-Baltazar et al., 2019 
1585 C=C 

4 Tamarix aphylla Stem 390 - - XRD, UV, SEM-EDX, TEM Spherical - Ahmad et al., 2020 

5 K. alvarezii Whole plant 457 1480 O-H 
XRD, UV, FTIR, HRSEM, 

HRTEM, EDX 
Hexagonal 10–30 Arularasu et al., 2018 

6 Moringa oleifera Leaf 448 

3325 O-H 

XRD, FTIR, SEM Irregular spherical 18–20 Aisida et al., 2021 1618 C=O 

1401 C-N 

7 Amaranthus dubius Leaf 214 
3250 O-H 

SEM, XRDUV, FTIR Oval 58–530 Harshiny et al., 2015 
1634 C=O 

8 Rhamnella gilgitica Leaf 341 
2979 C-H SEM, TEM, XRD, DLS, FT-

IR, EDX, UV 
Spherical 21–25 Iqbal et al., 2020 

1064 C-N 

9 Terminalia bellirica fruit 300 
3300–340 O-H 

SEM, TEM, XRD, FTIR, UV Spherical 21.32 Jagadeesan et al., 2019 
1600 C=O 

10 Stevia rebaudiana Leaf - - - 
XRD, HRTEM, Fe-SEM, 

XPS, EDX, 
Spherical 20 Khatami et al., 2019 

11 Centella asiatica whole plant - 

3416 O-H 

TEM, SEM, FTIR, EDX, Spherical 20–40 Poka et al., 2019 1621 C=O 

1387 C-N 

12 Avecinnia marina Flower 298-301 

3422 O-H 

UV, FTIR, XRD - 45.09 
Karpagavinayagam and 

Vedhi, 2019 
2923 C-H 

1630 C=O 

13 Green tea Leaf  
3440 O-H 

SEM, EDS, XPS, FT-IR Spherical 117 Lin et al., 2017 
1629 C=O 

14 Green tea Leaf 550 - - UV, SEM, TEM Spherical 4.96 Liu et al., 2019 

15 Psidium guavaja Leaf 315 
3034–3366 O-H 

FTIR, UV, SEM, XRD Spherical - Madubuonu et al., 2019 
1669 C=O 

16 
Calliandra 

haematocephala 
leaf - 

3645 0-H 
UV–Vis, XRD, FTIR, TEM, 

EDS 
Spherical 85 Sirdeshpande et al., 2018 2935 C-H 

1662 C=C 

17 
Trigonella foenum-

graecum 
Seed 387 

3428 O-H 

FTIR, UV, SEM, EDX  7–14 Radini et al., 2018 
2940 C-H 

1756 C=O 

1544 N-H 

Continue… 

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ISSN: 1678-4618 

DOI: 10.26850/1678-4618eqj.v46.4.2021.p17-37 

18 Luffa acutangula Peel - 3446 O-H FTIR, XRD, SEM, EDX Spherical 20–35 Cheera et al., 2016 

18 

19 

Luffa acutangula 

P. guajava 

Peel 

Leaf 

- 

- 

2829 C-H FTIR, XRD, SEM, EDX 

XRD, SEM, TEM, HRTEM, 

EDX, FTIR 

Spherical 

Irregular 

20–35 

20–30 

Cheera et al., 2016 

Rufus et al., 2019 
1605 C=C 

1410 O-H 

19 

20 

P. guajava 

Rheum emodi 

Leaf 

Root 

- 

320 

1640 C=O XRD, SEM, TEM, HRTEM, 

EDX, FTIR 

XRD, UV, FESEM, TEM, 

EDX, FTIR, AFM, TGA, 

VSM 

Irregular 

Pyramidal 

20–30 

10–30 

Rufus et al., 2019 

Sharma et al., 2020 3381 O-H 

20 

21 

Rheum emodi 

Citrus maxima 

Root 

Peel 

320 

- 

2927 C-H XRD, UV, FESEM, TEM, 

EDX, FTIR, AFM, TGA, 

VSM 

TEM, EDS, XPS, FTIR, DLS 

Pyramidal 

Irregular 

10–30 

10–100 

Sharma et al., 2020 

Wei et al., 2016 
1614 C=O 

3292 O-H 

21 

22 

Citrus maxima 

Ruellia tuberosa 

Peel 

Leaf 

- 

405 

2927 C-H TEM, EDS, XPS, FTIR, DLS 

DLS, UV, SEM-EDX, TEM, 

FTIR 

Irregular 

Rod 

10–100 

20–80 

Wei et al., 2016 

Vasantharaj et al., 2019 
1638 C=O 

3397 O-H 

22 

23 

Ruellia tuberosa 

Lawsonia inermis 

Leaf 

Whole plant 

405 

224 

1629 N-H DLS, UV, SEM-EDX, TEM, 

FTIR 

UV, SEM-EDX, FTIR 

Rod 

Spherical 

20–80 

150–200 

Vasantharaj et al., 2019 

Chauhan and Upadhyay, 

2019 

1114 C=O 

3444 O-H 

23 Lawsonia inermis Whole plant 224 

2962 C-H 

UV, SEM-EDX, FTIR Spherical 150–200 
Chauhan and Upadhyay, 

2019 
1606 N-H 

  

Note. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). 

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23                                                                                         Eclética Química Journal, vol. 46, n. 4, 2021, 17-37 

ISSN: 1678-4618 

DOI: 10.26850/1678-4618eqj.v46.4.2021.p17-37 

Table 2. Applications of IONPs synthesized from plants extracts. 

S/N Plants name Plants part Iron precursor Applications Activities References 

1 
Parkia speciosa 

Hassk 
Pod FeSO4 Photocatalytic activity 

The results imply that the nanoparticles have potential use as 

photocatalysts, with applications in dye-containing wastewater 

degradation 

Fatimah et al., 2020 

2 Eucalyptus robusta Leaf FeSO4 Antibacterial activity 

The result potential antibacterial activity against tested organism, but 

more effectiveness was observed against gram positive bacteria (B. 

subtilis) 

Vitta et al., 2020 

3 Skimma laureola Leaf FeCl3 Antibacterial activity 
The result revealed the importance of biosynthesized Fe2O3−NPs against 

phytopathogen Ralstonia solanacearum in vitro and in plant 
Alam et al., 2019 

4 Green and black tea Leaf FeCl3 Antimicrobial activity 
These results showed that the synthesized NPs could be effective against 

infections caused by multiple drug resistant pathogens 
Asghar et al., 2018 

5 Eucalyptus Leaf FeCl3 Phosphate removal 
The study demonstrated that the formation of IONPs improved the 

efficiency of phosphate removal 
Gan et al., 2018 

6 Amaranthus dubius Leaf FeCl3 Antibacterial activity 
The study showed that IONPs enhanced the performance of microbial 

fuel cell 
Harshiny et al., 2017 

7 plantain Peel FeCl3 Catalytic activity 
The study demonstrates an eco-friendly approach to synthesizing IONPs 

as a good bio-catalyst for the treatment of effluent waste of industries 
Buiyan et al., 2020 

8 Green tea Leaf FeCl3 
Organic pollutant 

remediation 

The particles showed effective catalytic activity for removal of organic 

contaminants 
Kheshtzar et al., 2019 

9 Eucalyptus Leaf FeCl3 Catalytic activity It displayed good efficiency in removing Cr (VI) Liu et al., 2018 

10 Papaver somniferum Pod FeSO4 anti-cancer activity Fe2O3 NPs displayed superior biocompatibility with human RBCs Muhammad et al., 2019 

11 Chinese cabbage Leaf FeCl2 Antioxidant 
The IONPs showed good synergistic antibacterial, anticandidal and 

antioxidant activity 
Patra and Baek, 2017 

12 Aloe vera Leaf FeCl2 anti-cancer activity 
The study reported important in vitro cytotoxicity assessments on MCF-7 

breast cancer cell line 
Rahmani et al., 2020 

13 Amaranthus spinosus Leaf FeCl3 
Environmental 

remediation activities 

The IONPs displayed a strong catalytic activity for decolorization of 

methylene blue and methyl orange 

Muthukumar and 

Matheswaran, 2015 

14 Pisidium guajava Leaf FeCl3 Antibacterial 
It is noteworthy that the biosynthesized IONPs are more efficient 

antibacterial agent 
Madubuonu et al., 2020 

15 Murraya koenigii Leaf FeSO4 Hydrogen Production 
The photosynthesized IONPs enhanced the production of hydrogen when 

compared with FeSO4 
Mohanraj et al., 2014 

16 Salvadora persica Bark FeSO4 Cytotoxic activity 
The IONPs showed cytotoxicity against colon (HT-29) cancer cell lines 

at concentrations above 125 μg mL–1 
Miri et al., 2020 

 

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Figure 1. Green synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles. 

 

2.4 Possible mechanism for the synthesis of 

IONPs 
 

Three stages, namely activation, growth and 

termination stage, are involved in the synthesis of 

IONPs from plant sources. Plant extracts serve as 

reducing agents for the bio-reduction of iron ion due to 

the chemical constituents found in plant extract. During 

synthesis, iron ions react with chemical constituents 

such as flavonoids, polyphenols and tannins via 

reduction and oxidation reactions. The electron rich 

biomolecules with (-OH) functional groups has the 

efficiency of reducing the iron ions (Fe2+ or Fe3+) from 

divalent or trivalent oxidation state depending on the 

iron precursor used to metallic form Fe0. This 

zerovalent iron will then be converted to IONPs due to 

some chemical reactivity. Evidently, some reporters 

have deduced from the functional group identification 

via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) 

analysis that OH functional group in the extract are 

responsible for bio-reduction (Mohamed et al., 2020). 

The growth phase occurs during the annealing and 

segregation of iron atoms which progressively 

combined to yield IONPs. Finally, the termination step 

encompasses the stabilization of synthesized IONPs, 

which occurs when the equivalent amount of function 

groups found in the extract bind with the surface of the 

IONPs. Another study has reported the three stages 

involved in the formation mechanism of IONPs as; 

complexing of iron cation with hydroxyl functional 

group, simultaneous bio-reduction of iron cation with 

hydroxyl functional group to form IONPs and capping 

of formed IONPs with hydroxyl containing functional 

group (Thilagavathi et al., 2016). The flow chart 

illustrating the synthesis of IONPs from plant material 

is presented in Fig. 1. 

 

3. Optimization 
 

During the synthesis of IONPs some conditions 

have to be attained to obtain maximum yield and 

desired morphological features. Such conditions and 

parameters are ratios of volume of extracting solvent to 

plant material, temperature, concentration of precursor 

solution, pH of solution, reaction and incubation time. 

 

3.1 Effect of precursor 
 

Result from previous study had shown different 

precursors adopted for the green synthesis of IONPs 

using plant extract. Examples of such precursors are 

ferric nitrate, ferric chloride, iron acetate, ferrous 

sulphate, ferric citrate, ammonium ferric citrate. Some 

mixture of precursors such as mixture of ferrous 

sulphate and ferric chloride, mixture of potassium 

ferricyanide and potassium ferrocyanide. The study 

conducted by Rajendran and Sen (2016) on the effect 

of precursors on the synthesis of IONPs showed that 

there was a huge variation in number of days taken for 

the synthesis of IONPs using different precursors. They 

stated that the solubility of precursors in water has 

influence on the reaction kinetics. Furthermore, they 

concluded that all the precursors showed different 

morphological features when the IONPs synthesized 

were compared. Another study had revealed that the 

nature of the precursor used for the green synthesis of 

IONPs determine its reaction time, shape and size 

(Sayed and Polshettiwar, 2015). 

 

3.2 Effect of concentration of precursor 
 

Studies have shown that concentration of precursor 

influence the time taken for the synthesis of IONPs. 

Increase in concentration of precursor causes an 

increase in the rate of synthesis while decrease in 

concentration of precursor has been linked with delay 

in bio-reduction process during IONPs. This 

phenomenon was attributed to inadequate proportion of 

biomolecules present in the extract to the precursor for 

growth and nucleation of nanocrystals in the solution 

(Zhu et al., 2012). The influence of concentration of 

precursor on particle size has been reported, decrease 

in concentration of precursor have been found to yield 

IONPs with decrease particle size and vice versa 

(Verma and Mehata, 2016). Nucleation and growth 

models of NPs have been adopted in the explanation of 

the effect of concentration of precursor on particle size 

claiming that the number of NPs formed in the solution 

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increased with increase in precursor concentration. 

Aside nucleation rate, delay in particle growth was also 

noted as the concentration of precursor increases 

resulting to increase in the availability of elemental 

concentrations of precursor which cause increase in the 

size of particle (Cho et al., 2016). 

 

3.3 Effect of pH 
 

The pH which determines the level of acidity and 

basicity of reaction medium has been detected to be an 

important factor that influences the synthesis of IONPs 

and other metal oxide NPs from plants materials. The 

influences of pH of solution medium on size and 

texture of NPs synthesized from plant extract has been 

documented (Jacob et al., 2019). Therefore, variation 

of the pH of solution has been adopted in regulation 

and control of shape and size of the synthesized NPs 

(Huang et al., 2015). The pH of basic medium (7 to 9) 

has been reported as the optimum condition for the 

synthesis of IONPs Aeromonas hydrophila (Lenders et 

al., 2016). The biosynthesis that occurs at pH 12 and 4 

has been reported to completely retard the synthesis of 

IONPs. This indicated that extreme acidic and basic 

conditions do not favor the synthesis of IONPs using 

plant extract (Woźnica et al., 2003). 

 

3.4 Effect of temperature 
 

Temperature is one of the crucial parameters that 

influences the physical, chemical and biological 

method of synthesizing IONPs. The temperature 

requirement for the green synthesis of IONPs using 

plant extract is in the range of 25 to 100 °C (Patra et 

al., 2014). However, most researchers prefer the 

synthesis of IONPs at room temperature due to the 

volatility of some secondary metabolites of plants 

extract that are needed for bio-reduction of iron ions. 

Findings have shown that temperature of the reaction 

solution influences the morphological identity of NPs 

(Patra et al., 2014). Findings from the UV-visible 

analysis of IONPs synthesis from plant part at 

temperatures interval of 40 and 30 °C shown complete 

synthesis at 48 and 72 h, respectively. This indicated 

that rapid synthesis occurs at higher temperatures. This 

report also indicated that an increase in temperature 

beyond 40 °C led to poor synthesis of IONPs, which 

was attributed to the inactivation of biomolecules liable 

for the reduction of the iron precursor (Rajendran and 

Sen, 2016). However, a report has shown the 

successful synthesis of IONPs using Punica granatum 

seed extract at temperature of 70 °C (Bibi et al., 2019). 

3.5 Time or reaction and incubation 
 

The influence of incubation time on NPs 

synthesized using plant extract have been examined to 

influence the morphological properties and qualities of 

NPs (Harlekar et al., 2014). Other factors, such as 

storage conditions, device used for storage and 

exposure to light also affect the reaction time of 

IONPs. Long time incubation period has been 

documented to cause aggregation and shrinkage of 

particles (Saif et al., 2016). 

 

3.6 Effect of type of plant extracts and 

concentrations of on IONPs synthesis 
 

The synthesis of IONPs using plants extract is 

dependent on types of phytochemical found in the 

extract and the volume used (Devatha et al., 2018). The 

volume of plant extract used for the synthesis of NPs 

influence its duration of complete synthesis. When 

large volume of extract is being used, the rate of 

synthesis occurs rapidly because more chemical 

constituents are available in the solution which bind 

with the iron precursor to effect rapid bio-reduction 

and stabilization of IONPs while limited volume of 

extracts are being used the rate of IONPs formation 

decreases because there are insufficient biomolecules 

to bind with the metal precursor, which finally result 

into instability of NPs formed because the iron 

precursor would not be completely reduced to 

zerovalent form (Fazlzadeh et al., 2017). To attain an 

optimum condition for the green synthesis of IONPs, 

the ratio of the volume of plant extract must 

correspond to the concentration of iron precursor used 

because complete bio-reduction occur when there is 

equivalent amount of iron precursor and functional 

groups capable of causing reduction (Toledo et al., 

2018). Also, the nature and kind of phytochemical 

available in plant extract influences the yield of IONPs 

produced (Gholami et al., 2018). The yield of IONPs 

depend largely on the volume of extract used for 

synthesis. High volume of extract has been reported 

induced to increased yield of synthesized IONPs when 

various volumes of plant extract were used, this was 

linked to the present of more functional groups, which 

react with the iron salt to produce improved absorption 

(Sumera et al., 2018). Findings have proved that 

volume and kind of extract used for NPs synthesis also 

affected their morphological properties and biological 

activities (Shen et al., 2017). 

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4. Characterization techniques 
 

Several techniques have been used for the 

evaluation of the properties of synthesized IONPs. The 

confirmation of IONPs formation is examined with UV 

spectroscopy (Ramesh et al., 2018). Fourier transform 

infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) is used for the functional 

group identification (Devi et al., 2018). The 

morphological properties are determined by 

microscopy techniques such as transmission electron 

microscope (TEM), scanning electron microscopy 

(SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) 

(Lassoued et al., 2017). The crystallinity of synthesized 

IONPs is determined with X-ray diffraction (Akintelu 

et al., 2020a) while the purity and composition of 

element are measured with EDX (Rufus et al., 2017) 

and total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) 

(Kulesh et al., 2016). 

 

4.1 Nanoparticle formation analysis 
 

Ultraviolet visible spectroscopy is a technique used 

for the confirmation of the formation of metal NPs and 

metal oxide NPs, such as IONPs (Madubuonu et al., 

2020). This is carried out by the measurement of its 

surface plasmon resonance and estimation of the 

oscillations of conduction band electrons obtained in 

the electromagnetic radiation (Madubuonu et al., 

2020). Ultraviolet analysis has been used to study the 

stability, size, aggregation and structure of the NPs 

(Aisida et al., 2020a). Each metal oxide and metal NPs 

have specific absorbance wavelength and this is 

obtained from the UV spectrum when incident rays of 

light encounter the conduction band electrons on the 

surface of the metal NPs (Akintelu et al., 2020b). The 

specific absorbance band for IONPs is in the range of 

280 to 450 nm on the UV spectrum (Aisida et al., 

2020b). Findings obtained from recent studies on the 

use of UV analysis for the confirmation of IONPs 

formation are summarized in Tab. 1. 

 

4.2 Functional group identification 
 

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy is useful for 

the identification of the functional groups present in the 

plant extract and IONPs (Kumar et al., 2016). It is 

equally used in the determination of the functional 

groups that participated in the bio-reduction of the iron 

precursors (Mirza et al., 2018). Fourier transform 

infrared spectroscopy analysis can produce the 

absorption and infrared emission spectrum of solid, 

liquid and gas. The uniqueness in the combination of 

atoms of biomolecules enhance the identification of 

functional groups present in synthesized IONPs using 

the spectra obtained from FTIR analysis (Vasantharaj 

et al., 2019). The spectrum obtained from FTIR 

spectroscopic analysis presents fingerprint containing 

the absorption peaks that correspond to the wavelength 

of vibrations within the bounds of atoms of the NPs 

(Ibraheem et al., 2019; Sneha and Karthikeyan, 2019). 

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis have 

been used by numerous researchers to confirm the 

presence of some biomolecules, such as flavonoids, 

tannins, alkaloids, saponins in the extract of plants used 

for the bio-reduction of iron precursors during the 

formation of IONPs (Rahmani et al., 2019). The 

prominent functional groups that are responsible for 

the reduction process during the synthesis of IONPs 

obtained from previous studies are presented in Tab. 1. 

 

4.3 Morphological assessment of IONPs 
 

4.3.1 Transmission electron microscope (TEM) 
 

Transmission electron microscope is one of the 

frequently used characterization tools for shape, size, 

and morphology determination of IONPs 

(Ebrahiminezhad et al., 2017a). Conversely, the IONPs 

preparatory procedure for TEM analysis is very 

complicated because the sample (IONPs) must be very 

thin for electron transmittance. The IONPs are 

enclosed in thin films prepared on copper grids coated 

with carbon by releasing small quantity of IONPs in 

solution onto the grid and extra solution on the grid are 

removed with blotting papers (Rizwan et al., 2018). To 

aid easy penetration of monochromatic beam of 

electrons through the sample which produce an image 

on the viewing screen, the prepared samples are dried 

under a mercury lamp (Liu et al., 2015). The used of 

TEM in the morphological assessment of IONPs 

synthesized from several plant materials have been 

reported by many researches and summary of their 

results are documented in Tab. 1. 

 

4.3.2 Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) 
 

Scanning electron microscopy is an electron 

microscopy-based technique that have been used for 

the morphological evaluation of numerous NPs via 

direct visualization (Akintelu et al., 2021). These 

techniques have some unique benefits for 

morphological and size analysis when compared with 

other available techniques. For the preparatory 

procedures of IONPs for SEM analysis. The IONPs 

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solution will be evaporated to dryness, the powder 

obtained are then mounted on a sample holder of the 

SEM machine and will be coated with a conductive 

metal using a sputter coater (Ebrahiminezhad et al., 

2017b). Subsequently, a beam of high energy electrons 

will be focused to the IONPs to produce several signals 

on its surface (Ranmadugala et al., 2017). Then the 

signals on the IONPs surface are captured by electron 

beams and are recorded by the detector where 

information about the crystalline structure, external 

morphology, orientation and chemical composition of 

IONPs are determined (Sulaiman et al., 2018). The 

deficiency of SEM is in its inability to provide only 

accurate and sufficient information about the average 

size distribution of IONPs (Rajiv et al., 2017). Findings 

on the morphological determination of synthesized 

IONPs using several plant extracts via TEM analysis 

are summarized in Tab. 1. 

 

4.3.3 Atomic force microscopy (AFM) 
 

Several findings have shown the use of AFM in 

morphological evaluation of NPs (Adio et al., 2017). 

This technique is based on scanning of samples 

(IONPs) using a probe tip at the submicron level and 

with the aid of installed software-based image 

processing crucial information about morphology, 

surface texture, length, width, and height of NPs can be 

deduced (Jubb and Allen, 2010). For sample 

preparation for AFM analysis, a small amount of 

IONPs solution is placed on a glass slipcover attached 

to the AFM stub and dried over nitrogen gas at ambient 

temperature. Several images are recorded for better 

interpretation (Jagathesan and Rajiv, 2018). This 

instrument makes the use of the forces between the 

surface and the tip of the sample in generating 

topographical map which is scanned in contact mode 

(Bishnoi et al., 2018). The advantages of AFM in 

morphological evaluation of NPs does not require 

sample pretreatment before producing their images, it 

can be used to evaluate the morphological features of 

nonconducting samples and it also produce information 

about the volume and height of NPs (Katata-Seru et al., 

2018). 

 

4.3.4 Elemental composition 
 

4.3.4.1 Energy dispersive X-ray spectra (EDX) 

 

In order to evaluate the purity and elemental 

composition of NPs synthesized using plant extracts, 

some researchers have used EDX technique (Yadav 

and Fulekar, 2018). The elemental composition of 

IONPs is determined from the X-rays emission 

obtained from IONPs after they have been bombarded 

with an electron beam (Khalil et al., 2017). Also, the 

use of an attached EDS detector to SEM have been 

used to determine the composition of elements in 

IONPs by estimating the number of X-rays emitted to 

balance the difference in energy of the two electrons 

(Badni et al., 2016). This is attainable because the 

emitted X-ray energy is a characteristic identity of the 

element when quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed 

(Akintelu et al., 2020c). 

 

4.3.4.2 Crystallinity evaluation 

 

XRD have been reported as a good technique for 

the crystallinity assessment of synthesized NPs 

(Demirezen et al., 2018). The crystallinity assessment 

is accomplished by analyzing the lattice and structure 

parameters of the diffracted IONPs powder by 

measuring the diffraction angle when X-ray beam 

incident on them. With the aid of Scherrer formula 

represented with Eq. 2 the crystal size can be 

determined based on the X-ray peaks width 

(Truskewycz et al., 2016). 

 

Crystal size =
kλ

βcosθ
 (2) 

where k = shape factor (0.94), λ = wavelength of 

incident X-ray, β = full width half maximum and θ = 

Bragg’s angle. 

 

5. Applications of IONPs synthesized from 

plant extract 
 

5.1 Antimicrobial applications 
 

Various investigations have been carried out to 

enhance the antimicrobial activities of available 

antibiotic drugs and also to develop novel 

antimicrobial agents to reduce/eliminate the microbial 

resistance towards readily available antibiotics and 

antiseptic (Ansari et al., 2017). Reports from the in 

vitro antimicrobial studies of metal and metal oxide 

NPs on numerous microbial species showed that metal 

oxide and metal NPs demonstrated remarkable 

inhibition against the growth of tested microbial 

species when compared with commercially available 

antibiotics and antiseptic (Rana et al., 2019). However, 

the antimicrobial activities of IONPs and other NPs 

depends upon majorly on particle size and material 

used for synthesis. Over the past decades, IONPs 

functionalized with therapeutic agents, such as 

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antimicrobials, have gained scientific and industrial 

attention because of their impressive results of 

antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities (Holban, 2015). 

When IONPs agglomerate, their surfaces are modified 

with important biological molecules and other 

polymer, IONPs have been coated with several 

antimicrobial agents to prevent IONPS agglomeration 

in attempt to extend the utility of engineered IONPs in 

biomedical applications (Seabra et al., 2017). The 

utilization of metal NPs have been recommended as the 

most promising approach for eradicating microbial 

drug resistance because of their multiple reaction 

mechanisms with microbial cells (Seabra et al., 2017). 

Some of the reaction mechanisms are generation of pits 

in the bacterial cell, which causes fragmentation of the 

cell wall, denaturation of the outermost membrane of 

microbes especially bacterial, and reaction with the 

disulfide groups of enzymes to obstruct metabolic 

processes, which causes cell death (Rai et al., 2013). 

Like other metal and metal oxide NPs such as silver, 

gold, zinc oxide and copper oxide. The IONPs also 

possess potential antimicrobial activities (Taghizadeh 

et al., 2019). Patra et al. (2017) reported that IONPs 

synthesized using corn plant extract exerted synergistic 

antibacterial activities against tested bacterial species. 

Previous study on the bactericidal action of IONPs 

synthesized using the fruit extract of Couroupita 

guianensis revealed that particles exhibited effective 

bactericidal potency on tested human pathogens (Gao 

et al., 2017). Findings have equally shown that the 

growth of Proteus mirabilis and Escherichia coli can 

be limited by IONPS obtained using leaf extract of 

Argemone mexicana L. (Arokiyaraj et al., 2013). The 

potential of IONPs in combating both gram positive 

and gram-negative bacteria have been reported 

effective and further strategies to develop synergistic 

IONPs platform which could function as carrier system 

for the treatment of microbial infection in future have 

been devised (Nehra et al., 2018). Some results 

obtained from recent studies on the antimicrobial 

potency of IONPs synthesized using plant extracts 

against the growth of some deadly human pathogens 

are shown in Tab. 2. 

 

5.2 Anticancer applications 
 

Lack of selective targets and multidrug resistance 

have made the effective treatment of tumor and cancer 

an abortive and worrisome issue (El-Boubbou, 2018). 

The advancement in nanotechnology and nanoscience 

over the years have shown some effective contribution 

of NPs in cancer treatment due to their exceptional 

features and mechanism of reaction with cancerous 

cells (Sathishkumar et al., 2018). Among the existing 

metal oxide NPs, IONPs have been recommended as 

good anticancer therapy due to their large surface area 

to graft targeting substrates and moieties, great 

resistance to in vivo degradation and potential 

synergistic activity in influencing the sensitivity of 

drugs towards the treatment of cancer (Bahrami et al., 

2017). The cytotoxicity effect of biosynthesized IONPs 

against human HepG2 liver cell lines reveal that IONPs 

is capable of inhibiting the growth of cancer cell as the 

concentrations of IONPs increases (Rajendran et al., 

2015). It was deduced from an investigation conducted 

to determine the cytotoxicity efficiency of lead oxide 

NPs and IONPs against HepG2 cells that IONPs 

exhibited higher cytotoxicity efficiency of 38.49% 

against HepG2 cells while the cytotoxicity efficiency 

of lead oxide NPs was 20.88%. The difference in the 

efficiency of the metal oxides in inhibiting the growth 

of HepG2 cells was linked with the smaller particle 

size of IONPs (Muhammad et al., 2019). The result 

obtained from the in vitro cytotoxicity evaluation of 

various concentrations of IONPs synthesized using 

flaxseed against MCF-7 cells revealed high toxicity 

efficacy at concentrations of 4.7 μg mL–1 and above 

(Rahmani et al., 2020). The high cytotoxicity 

efficiency of IONPs against the MCF-7 cell line was 

attributed to the ability of IONPs in causing breakdown 

of MCF-7 cells membrane by interacting with the 

phospholipid molecules in the cell layer (Berry et al., 

2004). An outstanding cytotoxicity effect has been 

documented from the action of Psoralea corylifolia 

mediated IONPs against significant anticancer activity 

against renal tumor cells (Nagajyothi et al., 2017). 

 

5.3 Environmental application 
 

The wide use of anionic and cationic dyes in 

textiles, plastic, pharmaceuticals, leather, printing, and 

paper milling industries had led to their gigantic 

demand and supply across the globe (Fowsiya et al., 

2016). Findings have shown that after manufacturing 

processes in the aforementioned industries over 20% of 

the total dyes used are wasted and are discharged into 

the environment where they resulted into various forms 

of environmental pollution (Ratna and Padhi, 2012). 

The discharge of dye and other toxic waste into the 

ecosystem have result to the death of many aquatic 

animals, water turbidity and several human health 

menace (Jin et al., 2018). However, the management 

and effective control of effluents containing dyes have 

been a daunting challenge. The implication of the 

environmental challenges associated with industrial 

effluents have led to the investigation of the catalytic 

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degradation and oxidation of dyes by metal and metal 

oxide NPs (Thandapani et al., 2018). Interestingly, 

metal oxides, such as zinc, copper, titanium and iron 

oxides, have showed good dye degradation efficiency 

(Gonawala and Mehta, 2014; Stan et al., 2015). The 

photodegradation of dyes by IONPs have been 

attributed to the easy adsorption of dyes linked with the 

high surface area to mass ratio and large number of 

surface reactive sites of metal oxide NPs (Dutta et al., 

2014). Catalyst loading, pH, temperature, and time 

have reported as the major factors affecting the 

photocatalytic activities of IONPs (Ahmed et al., 

2020). Several results obtained from the applications of 

IONPs on environmental control of toxic effluent 

containing dyes and inorganic substance are 

documented in Tab. 2. 

 

6. Conclusion 
 

This review discussed elaborately the various 

methods and techniques involved in the synthesis and 

characterization of IONPs. In general, the bioactive 

constituents of plant extract used for the synthesis of 

IONPs offer other benefits, such as improved 

biological activities and prevention of agglomeration 

aside been a reducing and stabilizing agent during the 

process of synthesis. The optimum conditions for the 

proper synthesis and improved yield of IONPs with 

desirable properties are well discussed. Review from 

the literature shows that plant-based synthesis is 

environmentally friendly, scalable to industrial 

production, nontoxic, very fast and consume less 

energy. Despite the numerous applications of 

biosynthesized IONPs in effluent treatment, catalysis 

and biomedicine, there is need for advance study to 

puffer solution to the challenges in comprehending the 

subsurface mechanistic pathways and transport of 

IONPs in the environments and their toxicological 

consequences. 

 

Authors’ contribution 
 

Conceptualization: Akintelu, S. A. 

Data curation: Oyebamiji, A. K. 

Formal Analysis: Oyebamiji, A. K.; Folorunso, A. S. 

Funding acquisition: Not applicable. 

Investigation: Akintelu, S. A.; Folorunso, A. S.; 

Oyebamiji, A. K. 

Methodology: Folorunso, A. S. 

Project administration: Oyebamiji, A. K. 

Resources: Not applicable 

Software: Not applicable. 

Supervision: Oyebamiji, A. K. 

Validation: Olugbeko, S. C. 

Visualization: Akintelu, S. A. 

Writing – original draft: Akintelu, S. A. 

Writing – review & editing: Olugbeko, S. C. 

 

Data availability statement 
 

The data will be available upon request 

 

Funding 
 

Not applicable 

 

Acknowledgments 
 

We are grateful to Chinese Government council, 

School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, 

Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China and 

Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Ladoke 

Akintola University of Technology for their assistance 

in the course of this study. 

 

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