Magnetite-Silica Core/Shell Nanostructures: From Surface Functionalization towards Biomedical Applications—A Review

The interconnection of nanotechnology and medicine could lead to improved materials, offering a better quality of life and new opportunities for biomedical applications, moving from research to clinical applications. Magnetite nanoparticles are interesting magnetic nanomaterials because of the property-depending methods chosen for their synthesis. Magnetite nanoparticles can be coated with various materials, resulting in “core/shell” magnetic structures with tunable properties. To synthesize promising materials with promising implications for biomedical applications, the researchers functionalized magnetite nanoparticles with silica and, thanks to the presence of silanol groups, the functionality, biocompatibility, and hydrophilicity were improved. This review highlights the most important synthesis methods for silica-coated with magnetite nanoparticles. From the presented methods, the most used was the Stöber method; there are also other syntheses presented in the review, such as co-precipitation, sol-gel, thermal decomposition, and the hydrothermal method. The second part of the review presents the main applications of magnetite-silica core/shell nanostructures. Magnetite-silica core/shell nanostructures have promising biomedical applications in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a contrast agent, hyperthermia, drug delivery systems, and selective cancer therapy but also in developing magnetic micro devices.

A Facile Route for the Preparation of Monodisperse Iron nitride at Silica Core/shell Nanostructures

Uniform-sized iron oxide nanoparticles obtained from the solution phase thermal decomposition of the iron-oleate complex were encapsulated inside the silica shell by the reverse microemulsion technique, and then thermal treatment under NH3 to transfer the iron oxide to iron nitride. The transmission electron microscopy images distinctly demonstrated that the as-prepared iron nitride at silica core/shell nanostructures were highly uniform in particle-size distribution. By using iron oxide nanoparticles of 6.1, 10.3, 16.2, and 21.8 nm as starting materials, iron nitride nanoparticles with average diameters of 5.6, 9.3, 11.6, and 16.7 nm were produced, respectively. The acid-resistant properties of the iron nitride at silica core/shell nanostructures were found to be much higher than the starting iron oxide at silica. A superconducting quantum interference device was used for the magnetic characterization of the nanostructure. Besides, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies using iron nitride at silica nanocomposites as contrast agents demonstrated T2 enhanced effects that were dependent on the concentration. These core/shell nanostructures have enormous potential in magnetic nanodevice and biomedical applications. The current process is expected to be easy for large-scale and transfer other metal oxide nanoparticles.

Preparation and Characterization of Magnetite – Silica Core – Shell Nanoparticles

In this study, two types of ligands were introduced onto the surface of magnetite nanoparticles by hydrolysis and condensation of organosilicon reagents: organosilane-tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and aminoorganosilane - aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES). It is shown that coatings based on SiO2 solve a double problem: first, they prevent the aggregation of nanoparticles and the oxidation of magnetite; secondly, they allow the surface to be modified with various specific ligands for biomedical applications due to terminal groups. It was shown, that after the modification of TEOS and APTES (in argon and in air), the Fe3O4 content decreases to 66, 42, and 36%, respectively. The formation of a silicon framework on the magnetite surface due to Fe-O-Si and Si-O-Si bonds was determined by IR spectroscopy. The identification of surface amino groups is complicated due to the superposition of absorption bands of NH2- and OH-groups. This opens new prospective for creation of tailored nanocomposites containing magnetite nanoparticles. These materials can be further used as sorbents for various applications.