Facile synthesis of low toxicity iron oxide/TiO2 nanocomposites with hyperthermic and photo-oxidation properties

Abstract

The present study aimed to assess the feasibility of developing low-cost multipurpose iron oxide/TiO2 nanocomposites (NCs) for use in combined antitumor therapies and water treatment applications. Larger size (≈ 100 nm) iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) formed magnetic core-TiO2 shell structures at high Fe/Ti ratios and solid dispersions of IONPs embedded in TiO2 matrices when the Fe/Ti ratio was low. When the size of the iron phase was comparable to the size of the crystallized TiO2 nanoparticles (≈ 10 nm), the obtained nanocomposites consisted of randomly mixed aggregates of TiO2 and IONPs. The best inductive heating and ROS photogeneration properties were shown by the NCs synthesized at 400 °C which contained the minimum amount of α-Fe2O3 and sufficiently crystallized anatase TiO2. Their cytocompatibility was assessed on cultured human and murine fibroblast cells and analyzed in relation to the adsorption of bovine serum albumin from the culture medium onto their surface. The tested nanocomposites showed excellent cytocompatibility to human fibroblast cells. The results also indicated that the environment (i.e. phosphate buffer or culture medium) used to disperse the nanomaterials prior to performing the viability tests can have a significant impact on their cytotoxicity.

An Overview of Environmental Catalysis Mediated by Hydrogen Peroxide

“…For this reason, many efforts have been made to overcome these issues through metal and non-metal doping, surface modification, and fabrication of composites with other materials. Iron and/or H 2 O 2 assistance is a popular strategy in the literature [135][136][137]; here, two significant examples of the combination of titania with iron, H 2 O 2 and ultrasound to start different Fenton-like processes are reported in Table 1, entries 14 and 15. More detailed information on the modulation titania band gap, surface reactivity, charge transfer, and stability, among other properties, has been extensively reported in ad hoc reviews [138][139][140][141][142].…”

TiO2 Phase Ratio’s Contribution to the Photocatalytic Activity

“…During these years of research on synthesizing titanium oxide nanoparticles, the sol–gel, − hydrothermal method, − and chemical vapor and liquid phase deposition , were most often used. , However, the sol–gel and hydrothermal methods have been identified as the most common and are simple to implement. The hydrothermal method is a relatively inexpensive method that ensures high purity and size uniformity of the synthesized one-dimensional TiO 2 nanostructures. − The process of crystallization of the substance occurs inside a Teflon or polypropylene autoclave and a stainless-steel vessel, which is stored at a temperature above 100 °C and a pressure of more than 1 atm. Compared with some synthesis methods (e.g., sol–gel), the hydrothermal approaches can significantly reduce the synthesis time.…”

“…The hydrothermal method is a relatively inexpensive method that ensures high purity and size uniformity of the synthesized one-dimensional TiO 2 nanostructures. 38 − 40 The process of crystallization of the substance occurs inside a Teflon or polypropylene autoclave and a stainless-steel vessel, which is stored at a temperature above 100 °C and a pressure of more than 1 atm. Compared with some synthesis methods (e.g., sol–gel), the hydrothermal approaches can significantly reduce the synthesis time.…”