In the present work,
iron nanoparticles were synthesized in the
α-Fe
2
O
3
phase with the reduction of potassium
hexachloroferrate(III) by using
l
-ascorbic acid as a reducing
agent in the presence of an amphiphilic non-ionic polyethylene glycol
surfactant in an aqueous solution. The synthesized α-Fe
2
O
3
NPs were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction,
field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron
microscopy, atomic force microscopy, dynamic light scattering, energy
dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy,
and ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometry. The powder X-ray
diffraction analysis result confirmed the formation of α-Fe
2
O
3
NPs, and the average crystallite size was found
to be 45 nm. The other morphological studies suggested that α-Fe
2
O
3
NPs were predominantly spherical in shape with
a diameter ranges from 40 to 60 nm. The dynamic light scattering analysis
revealed the zeta potential of α-Fe
2
O
3
NPs as −28 ± 18 mV at maximum stability. The ultraviolet–visible
spectrophotometry analysis shows an absorption peak at 394 nm, which
is attributed to their surface plasmon vibration. The cytotoxicity
test of synthesized α-Fe
2
O
3
NPs was investigated
against human carcinoma A549 lung cancer cells, and the biological
adaptability exhibited by α-Fe
2
O
3
NPs
has opened a pathway to biomedical applications in the drug delivery
system. Our investigation confirmed that
l
-ascorbic acid-coated
α-Fe
2
O
3
NPs with calculated IC
50
≤ 30 μg/mL are the best suited as an anticancer agent,
showing the promising application in the treatment of carcinoma A549
lung cancer cells.
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