One-step hydrothermal synthesis of Fe3O4@C nanoparticles with great performance in biomedicine

Abstract

Core–shell structured Fe₃O₄@C nanoparticles were fabricated by a facile one-pot hydrothermal route. The structure and component of the nanoparticles were fully characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Mössbauer spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, magnetometry and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller specific surface area measurements. The obtained Fe₃O₄@C nanoparticles possessed favorable dispersibility, high saturation magnetization (61.4 emu g⁻¹) that could quickly respond to external magnetic field and excellent biocompatibility. Excitingly, the experiments of the Fe₃O₄@C nanoparticles as drug carriers revealed an efficient drug-loading as high as 1.08 mg mg⁻¹. More importantly, the drug loading composite exhibited pH-responsive release profiles and the duration was as long as 200 h; at the pH value of 5.8 and 7.4, the release rate was 93.7% and 33.6%, respectively. Furthermore, the obtained Fe₃O₄@C nanoparticles had good magneto-thermal ability. All these positive attributes make the as-prepared Fe₃O₄@C nanoparticles a promising platform for further biomedical evaluations.