Targeted therapeutic effect against the breast cancer cell line MCF-7 with a CuFe2O4/silica/cisplatin nanocomposite formulation.

The combination of magnetic nanoparticles with a porous silica is a composite that has attracted significant attention for potential multifunctional theranostic applications. In this study, 30 wt % CuFe2O4 was impregnated into a matrix of monodispersed spherical hydrophilic silica (HYPS) nanoparticles through a simple dry impregnation technique. The chemotherapy drug cisplatin was loaded through electrostatic equilibrium adsorption over 24 h in normal saline solution. The presence of cubic spinel CuFe2O4 on HYPS was confirmed through powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and diffuse reflectance UV-vis spectroscopy (DR UV-vis) analysis. The HYPS particles showed a surface area of 170 m2/g, pore size of 8.3 nm and pore volume of 0.35 cm3/g. The cisplatin/CuFe2O4/HYPS nanoformulation showed the accumulation of copper ferrite nanoparticles on the surface and in the pores of HYPS with a surface area of 45 m2/g, pore size of 16 nm and pore volume of 0.18 cm3/g. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) mapping analysis showed the presence of homogeneous silica particles with nanoclusters of copper ferrite distributed on the HYPS support. Vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) analysis of CuFe2O4/HYPS showed paramagnetic behavior with a saturated magnetization value of 7.65 emu/g. DRS UV-vis analysis revealed the functionalization of cisplatin in tetrahedral and octahedral coordination in the CuFe2O4/HYPS composite. Compared to other supports such as mesocellular foam and silicalite, the release of cisplatin using the dialysis membrane technique was found to be superior when CuFe2O4/HYPS was applied as the support. An in vitro experiment was conducted to determine the potential of CuFe2O4/HYPS as an anticancer agent against the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7. The results show that the nanoparticle formulation can effectively target cancerous cells and could be an effective tumor imaging guide and drug delivery system.

Can Be a Bimetal Oxide ZnO-MgO Nanoparticles Anticancer Drug Carrier and Deliver? Doxorubicin Adsorption/Release Study.

Bimetal oxide ZnO-MgO nanoparticles were synthesised by precipitation method at low temperature and characterised by analytical techniques such as XRD, SEM and FT-IR. In order to know the efficiency of uptake and release of anticancer drug, the adsorption and release of doxorubicin, on bimetal oxide nanoparticles was performed in dark room at room temperature. The adsorption models such as Henry, Freundlich and Langmuir models were validated with obtained experimental data. Due to heterogeneous surface of bimetal oxides, data followed well with Henry and Freundlich models but not Langmuir that proposed homogeneous adsorbent surface. The strong affinity between drug and nanoparticles is certainly due to the electrostatic interaction between positively charged doxorubicin molecules and negatively charged surface of ZnO-MgO nanoparticles and hydrogen bonding between them that confirmed from FT-IR analysis. The doxorubicin release from ZnO-MgO nanoparticles was performed at pH 4 and 7 to evaluate the kinetic of drug release using various mathematical models. At neutral pH, the doxo release was found to be ~14% whereas at acidic pH (pH 4) nearly 68% of doxo was released at 6.5 hours due to dissolution and neutralising the surface charge of ZnO-MgO nanoparticles. Various mathematical models such as zero order, first order, Higuchi and Hixson-Crowell were approached to evaluate the kinetic release of drug from the nanoparticles. The obtained release data for acidic pH followed Hixson-Crowell model, proposes erosion dependent release system, compared to Higuchi that confirmed doxo release is due to dissolution of ZnO-MgO nanoparticles. In this study, it is concluded that ZnO-MgO nanoparticles will be a promising drug vehicle in drug delivery system.

Graphene Oxide Synthesis from Agro Waste.

A new method of graphene oxide (GO) synthesis via single-step reforming of sugarcane bagasse agricultural waste by oxidation under muffled atmosphere conditions is reported. The strong and sharp X-ray diffraction peak at 2θ = 11.6° corresponds to an interlayer distance of 0.788 nm (d002) for the AB stacked GOs. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and selected-area electron diffraction (SAED) confirm the formation of the GO layer structure and the hexagonal framework. This is a promising method for fast and effective synthesis of GO from sugarcane bagasse intended for a variety of energy and environmental applications.

Low temperature growth of double walled carbon nanotubes using FeMoMgO catalyst.

The chemical vapour deposition technique was utilised to grow the double walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs) over FeMoMgO catalyst at low temperature (550 degrees C) under the mixture of argon, hydrogen and acetylene gas. Thermogravimetric analysis revealed that synthesised nanotubes have thermal stability and high purity. The high-resolution transmission electron microscopy image showed the formation of DWCNTs with tube diameter of 2.5-3.5 nm. We observed radial breathing mode (RBM) in Raman spectrum, which is related to the diameter of DWCNTs. This synthesis process is simple and economically viable ascribed to low synthesis temperature, simplicity and well graphitization with high yield.

Effective supergrowth of vertical aligned carbon nanotubes at low temperature and pressure.

We present the generalised supergrowth of single and double walled carbon nanotubes like "water assisted supergrowth" at low temperature (630 degrees C) and pressure (1 Torr) by chemical vapour deposition using various thicknesses of iron supported alumina substrate as a catalyst. Reduced temperature and low pressure synthesis of single walled (SW) and double walled (DW) carbon nanotubes is of interest for their efficient growth into device architectures. Pure SW with 2.5 nm diameter are obtained with 0.37 nm Fe catalyst at 630 degrees C. We demonstrated the decrease of the density versus temperatures and also obtained high density materials (1.4 x 10(12) cm(-2)) at low temperature (580 degrees C). Scanning and transmission electron microscope studies provided information on the height, density of the carpets and the structure and diameter of SW and DW carbon nanotubes, respectively.