Recent Progress in Synthesis and Applications of Zinc Phosphate Nanoparticles: A Review

Nowadays, nanomaterials have become the research hot topic by the virtue of their fascinating attributions in human civilization. Zinc phosphate nanoparticles (ZnPNPs), an inorganic material, possess some unique features, such as high thermal stability, low solubility in corrosive media, biocompatibility, non-toxicity and luminescence property. As a result, ZnPNPs have enormously been explored by researchers in many important applications, such as anticorrosion pigment, drug delivery, antibacterial as well as anticancer agents, biocatalyst, lubricant additives, regeneration of bone tissues and removal of toxic metal from the environmental samples, and so on. Considering diversified applications potential, morphologically different ZnPNPs have mainly been fabricated by precipitation, sonochemical and biological methods. The surface property of ZnPNPs differs with pH, temperature, reaction time, and substrate concentrations. One-step in situ and facile synthetic procedures, as well as greener synthesis protocols of ZnPNPs can be advantageous over conventional methods to eliminate toxic chemicals and by-products. In addition, both artificial and natural polymer-modified ZnPNPs would offer improved properties, such as better colloidal stability, option for further functionalization, and render desired biocompatibility of prepared hybrid nanocomposite particles in applying for targeted applications. Furthermore, both in vitro and in vivo studies of polymer functionalized ZnPNPs can be an attractive research topic in biotechnological and electrochemical fields. Therefore, the current review provides a summary of the recent progress on the fabrication methods, an opportunity for the future directions to the researchers in the improvement of shape-selective synthesis and application potentials of ZnPNPs.