Chemical Template-assisted Synthesis of Monodisperse Rattle-type Fe3O4@C Hollow Microspheres as Drug Carrier

Publication date: Available online 6 June 2017
Source:Acta Biomaterialia
Author(s): Lin Cheng, Weimin Ruan, Bingfang Zou, Yuanyuan Liu, Yongqiang Wang
A chemical template strategy was put forward to synthesize monodisperse rattle-type magnetic carbon (Fe3O4@C) hollow microspheres. During the synthesis procedure, monodisperse Fe2O3 microspheres were used as chemical template, which released Fe³⁺ ions in acidic solution and initiated the in-situ polymerization of pyrrole into polypyrrole (PPy) shell. With the continual acidic etching of Fe2O3 microspheres, rattle-type Fe2O3@PPy microspheres were generated with the cavity appearing between the PPy shell and left Fe2O3 core, which were then transformed into Fe3O4@C hollow microspheres through calcination in nitrogen atmosphere. Compared with traditional physical template, the shell and cavity of rattle-type hollow microspheres were generated in one step by using the chemical template method, which obviously saved the complex procedures including the coating and removal of middle shells. The experimental results exhibited that the rattle-type Fe3O4@C hollow microspheres with different parameters could be regulated through controlled synthesis of the intermediate Fe2O3@PPy product. Moreover, when the rattle-type Fe3O4@C hollow microspheres were investigated as drug carrier, they manifested sustained-release behaviour of doxorubicin, justifying their promising applications as carriers in drug delivery.Statement of SignificanceThe aim of the present study was first to synthesize rattle-type Fe3O4@C hollow microspheres through a simple synthesis method as a drug carrier. Here a chemical template synthesis of rattle-type hollow microspheres were developed, which saved the complex procedures including the coating and removal of middle shells in traditional physical template. Second, all the influence factors in the reaction processs was systematically investigated to obtain rattle-type Fe3O4@C hollow microspheres with controlled parameters. Third, the rattle-type Fe3O4@C hollow microspheres with controlled parameters were used as durg carriers and investigated for the influence on drug loading and releasing performance.

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