TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - BIOLOGY - Preferred Components: The anaerobic microbes are thermophilic, mesophilic, or psychrotolerant. The anaerobic microbes are sulfate-reducing microbes, or metal-reducing microbes.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Method: The method is conducted at at least 40 degrees C. The method is conducted under substantially anaerobic conditions. Preferred Components: The metal component comprises one or more metals comprising cadmium, copper, iron, gallium, indium, tin, zinc (all preferred), vanadium, chromium, manganese, cobalt, nickel, molybdenum, tungsten, palladium, platinum, gold, silver, mercury, thallium, germanium, lead, bismuth, and antimony. The non-metal component is a reducible sulfur-containing, selenium-containing, tellurium-containing, or arsenic-containing component. The reducible sulfur containing component comprises sulfate, sulfite, elemental sulfur, or thiosulfate. The reducible selenium containing component comprises selenate, selenite, elemental selenium, or selenosulfate. The reducible tellurium containing component comprises tellurate, tellurite, or elemental tellurium. The reducible arsenic containing compound is an arsenate or arsenite compound. The non-metal component and organic compound comprise a sulfur-containing, selenium-containing, or tellurium-containing amino acids or nucleic bases. The non-metal component is comprised of one or more inorganic substances comprising sulfur-containing, selenium-containing, tellurium-containing, and arsenic-containing substances. The non-metal component comprises one or more organic compounds comprising organosulfur, organoselenium, organotellurium, and organoarsine compounds. The non-oxide semiconductor nanoparticles exhibit a photoluminescence peak characterized by a full-width half maximum value of less than 20 nm. The chalcophile metal component comprises one or more metals of copper, iron, zinc, and cadmium. The non-metal component comprises one or more inorganic substances of sulfur-containing, selenium-containing, and tellurium-containing inorganic substances. (I) possess a size of 1-500 nm, preferably 1-10 nm. The composition has at least one photoluminescent peak of 300-500 nm, or above 500 nm. The nanoparticles exhibit at least one photoluminescent peak of 400-1500 nm.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The electron donors include one or more sugar compounds, oxidizable gaseous compounds or elements, or carboxylate-containing compounds that can be oxidatively consumed by the microbes. EXAMPLE - A mesophilic sulfate-reducing strain Desulfovibrio G-20 was grown in a lactate/sulfate culture medium. Zinc ion (Zn2+) was added as zinc chloride (0.2 mM) to the medium, a well-formed highly crystalline zinc sulfate nanoparticles were formed.