Green and continuous route to assemble lateral nanodimensional graphitic oxide composites without process interruption

Abstract

A single-pass process was developed to continuously assemble lateral nanoscaled iron (pure iron and iron oxide-hydroxide)-decorated graphitic oxide conjugated with doxorubicin and polyethylene glycol (IDGO@DOX-PEG) flakes. The resulting flakes were employed for magneto- and photo-thermal therapies as well as magnetic resonance (MR) imaging as a theranostic nanosystem. The lateral nanoscaled GO flakes were primarily biocompatible and suitable to suppress burst DOX release because of abundant oxygenated plane and edges for DOX conjugation, and the fully nanoscale system was further feasible for near-infrared induced chemo-phototherapy to kill HeLa cells. The decorated iron nanoparticles exhibited a superparamagnetic behavior. IDGO@DOX-PEG flakes, thus, further demonstrated effective chemo-magnetotherapy under alternating magnetic field as well as contrasting activity for MR imaging. This study offers a new and generalizable concept to continuously assemble composite GO nanoflakes for theranostic nanomedicine which usually requires complicated hazardous chemistries and multiple posttreatments.