Nanobionics

Lecture 2
Dr Ahson J Shaikh
Plant Nanobionics
• Interface between living plants and nanotechnology to impart the
plants with novel and useful functions.
• The structural merits of plant organs and organelles have also
inspired the creation of plant‐derived structures through
biointerfacing with nanoparticles containing electronic and optical
properties.
• Applications in environmental sensing, communication devices, and
energy harvesting and conversion.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/admt.201900657
Developing Plants with Improved
Photosynthetic Capacity
• Nanobionic plants are developed by the facilitated kinetic trapping of
nanomaterials within photosynthetic organelle (chloroplast).
• The trapping of nanomaterials/nanotubes improved chloroplast
carbon capture (photosynthesis) by improving chloroplast solar
energy harnessing and electron transport rate.
• Nanotubes like poly(acrylic acid) nanoceria (PAA-NC) and single-
walled nanotube-nanoceria (SWNT-NC) decrease the amount of
reactive oxygen species (ROS) inside extracted chloroplast and
influence the sensing process in plants, which are beneficial for a
number of physiological processes.

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.76815
• With nanobiotechnological advancement, plants are capable of
• Imaging objects in their environment
• Self-powering themselves as light sources
• Communicating with infrared devices and
• Self-powered groundwater sensors developed
• The solar energy harnessing and biochemical sensing can be
improved in plants by introducing nanomaterial in them
• Nanobionic plants are developed for enhanced photosynthesis and
biochemical sensing.
• The engineered carbon nanotubes are shown to boost seed
germination, growth and development in plants.
Entry of nanoparticles in plant cells
• Cell wall possesses pores which provide sieving properties to cell
walls, and this range from 5 to 20 nm.
• Nanoparticles or aggregates of nanoparticles with a diameter less
than the pore diameter of the cell wall could pass through pores and
can reach the plasma membrane.
• There is additionally a chance for the enlargement of pores or the
induction of new cell wall pores upon interaction with engineered
nanoparticles which in turn enhance nanoparticle uptake.
• Further internalization of nanoparticles or aggregates of
nanoparticles occurs through endocytosis by forming a cavity-like
structure surrounding the nanoparticles by a plasma membrane.
Entry of nanoparticles in plant cells
• NPs may cross the membrane via carrier proteins or through ion
channels.
• In the cytoplasm, the nanoparticles may bind with different
cytoplasmic organelles and interfere with the metabolic processes.
• In leaf surface applied nanoparticles, the nanoparticles enter through
the stomatal apertures or through the bases of trichomes and
thereafter get translocated to tissues.
• The nanoparticles penetrate the plant cell wall and enter into the
space between plant cell wall and plasma membrane due to small
size, capillary action and Van der Waals forces.
Nanobionics and nanoengineered prosthetics
• Utilization of nanocarriers in drug delivery systems has been the main
concern of researchers and pharmaceutical developers.
• One of the most interesting drug delivery systems is the implantable
delivery system.
• Implants are introduced into the body for a number of reasons; many
implants are prosthetics, intended to replace missing body parts,
while other implants are used to monitor bodily functions, provide an
anchor for organs and tissues and, most importantly, deliver drugs.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128136652000144
Medical bionic devices
• The use of nanoparticles in implantable delivery systems and
prosthetics has improved their action and prevented a number of
problems, including dislocation of the implant or infections around
the site of the prosthetic.
• Nanoparticles are ideal for engineering prosthetics and implants
because they function at the same level of the body cells.
Implantable medical bionic devices
• The nexus of any bionic device can be found at the electrode–cellular
interface.
• Overall efficiency is determined by our ability to transfer electronic
information across that interface.
• The nanostructure imparted to electrodes plays a critical role in controlling
the cascade of events that determines the composition and structure of
that interface.
• With commonly used conductors: metals, carbon and organic conducting
polymers, a number of approaches that promote control over structure in
the nanodomain have emerged in recent years with subsequent studies
revealing a critical dependency between nanostructure and cellular
behaviour.

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2012/NR/c2nr30758h#!divAbstract
Implantable medical bionic devices
• As we continue to develop our understanding of how to create and
characterize electro materials in the nanodomain, this is expected to
have a profound effect on the development of next generation bionic
devices.
• Fabrication of nanostructured electrodes present new opportunities
in the field of medical bionics.
• Living cells interact with the nanostructured electromaterials
• New tools are developed for nanofabrication and nano-
characterization of the electrode–cellular interface.
Nitroaromatic detection and infrared communication from wild-type plants using plant nanobionics
• Microbial Nanobionics
• Fungal Nanobionics