Synthesis, characterization, and 5-fluorouracil release behavior of superparamagnetic γ-Fe2O3/ZnO hetero-nanostructures for biomedical applications

Saatci M.; Deliormanlı A.M.

Synthesis, characterization, and 5-fluorouracil release behavior of superparamagnetic γ-Fe2O3/ZnO hetero-nanostructures for biomedical applications

Date

2023

Authors

Saatci M.

Deliormanlı A.M.

Publisher

Elsevier Ltd

Abstract

In this study, superparamagnetic maghemite (γ-Fe2O3) nanosystems in the form of nanoparticles were fabricated through the co-precipitation method at different processing conditions. Additionally, novel γ-Fe2O3/ZnO heterostructures were fabricated using zinc acetate as the zinc source and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) as the capping agents. The results revealed that the size of the crystallites of the prepared maghemite nanopowders was between 6 nm and 7.8 nm depending on the synthesis temperature. The saturation magnetization value of maghemite nanopowders synthesized at 90 °C was measured to be 51.58 emu/g without hysteresis with negligible coercivity. FTIR analysis results proved the presence of ZnO in the maghemite core-based nanosystem. The formation of a ZnO coating using zinc acetate in the presence of PVP and EDTA as a capping agent caused a decrease in magnetization value to 12 emu/g. A ZnO coating provided better dispersion of maghemite nanoparticles and it also affected the drug (5-FU) delivery behavior. ZnO-coated nanoparticles showed prolonged and sustained drug release additionally, they continue to release the drug after 410 h. The 5-FU release kinetics of the prepared heterogeneous nanostructures fitted well with the Korsmeyer-Peppas model. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l.