In conclusion, BPE could be used as an efficient green material
for the rapid and consistent synthesis of gold nanoparticles.
A variation in reaction conditions brought about the synthesis of a
variety of nanoparticles displaying vivid colors and typical UV–vis
spectra. BPE mediated structured patterning of the nanoparticles
into microcubes and microwire networks. The BPE derived
gold nanoparticles displayed antifungal and antibacterial activity
towards the test pathogenic fungi and most of the bacterial cultures. This simple, low cost, non-toxic, eco-friendly, abundantly
available ‘green’ agricultural waste material could thus be used as
an efficient alternative to the cost intensive conventional micropatterning
methods. The microcrystals and networks generated by this
non-conventional method could have a variety of applications in
the future. Moreover, this system could also be used as amodel for
understanding the mechanism of microstructure evolution mediated
by biological systems.