Surface Engineered Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Generated by Inert Gas Condensation for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Despite the lifesaving medical discoveries of the last century, there is still an urgent need to improve the curative rate and reduce mortality in many fatal diseases such as cancer. One of the main requirements is to find new ways to deliver therapeutics/drugs more efficiently and only to affected tissues/organs. An exciting new technology is nanomaterials which are being widely investigated as potential nanocarriers to achieve localized drug delivery that would improve therapy and reduce adverse drug side effects. Among all the nanocarriers, iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) are one of the most promising as, thanks to their paramagnetic/superparamagnetic properties, they can be easily modified with chemical and biological functions and can be visualized inside the body by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), while delivering the targeted therapy. Therefore, iron oxide nanoparticles were produced here with a novel method and their properties for potential applications in both diagnostics and therapeutics were investigated. The novel method involves production of free standing IONPs by inert gas condensation via the Mantis NanoGen Trio physical vapor deposition system. The IONPs were first sputtered and deposited on plasma cleaned, polyethylene glycol (PEG) coated silicon wafers. Surface modification of the cleaned wafer with PEG enabled deposition of free-standing IONPs, as once produced, the soft-landed IONPs were suspended by dissolution of the PEG layer in water. Transmission electron microscopic (TEM) characterization revealed free standing, iron oxide nanoparticles with size < 20 nm within a polymer matrix. The nanoparticles were analyzed also by Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and NanoSight Nanoparticle Tacking Analysis (NTA). Therefore, our work confirms that inert gas condensation by the Mantis NanoGen Trio physical vapor deposition sputtering at room temperature can be successfully used as a scalable, reproducible process to prepare free-standing IONPs. The PEG- IONPs produced in this work do not require further purification and thanks to their tunable narrow size distribution have potential to be a powerful tool for biomedical applications.

One-Pot, One-Step Synthesis of Drug-Loaded Magnetic Multimicelle Aggregates

“…This approach has been successfully used for the characterization of various types of particles including PEGylated iron oxide nanoparticles with sizes less than 20 nm. 68 NTA showed a single dominant peak at ∼133 nm, which contained ∼90.84% of all MaMAs (Figure S4) that is in good agreement with DLS. A subpopulation of MaMAs around a minor peak at ∼56 nm (3.74% of all particles, Figure S4) is consistent with the presence of isolated IONPs observed in TEM.…”

“…In addition, we carried out size measurements using the nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) method, which directly images the Brownian motion of all nanoparticles in a sample to derive their distribution. This approach has been successfully used for the characterization of various types of particles including PEGylated iron oxide nanoparticles with sizes less than 20 nm . NTA showed a single dominant peak at ∼133 nm, which contained ∼90.84% of all MaMAs (Figure S4) that is in good agreement with DLS.…”

Nanocrystalline Materials: Synthesis, Characterization, Properties, and Applications

“…Liquid phase NC materials synthesis includes processes, such as rapid solidification [57][58][59][60], electrodeposition [61][62][63], chemical precipitation [64,65], and sol-gel technique [66][67][68]. NC material synthesis in gaseous form is achieved by inert gas condensation [69][70][71], vapor deposition/sputtering [72][73][74][75][76], and plasma processing [77]. Recently, scholars have diverted their research interests towards several unconventional methods to produce nanocrystals using biological cells [78].…”

“…In recent years bulk-nanostructuring using the cryomilling method got wide attention among scholars because of the energy-efficient nature compared to other NC production routes. Liquid phase NC materials synthesis includes processes, such as rapid solidification [58][59][60][61], electrodeposition [62][63][64], chemical precipitation [65,66], and sol-gel technique [67][68][69]. NC material synthesis in gaseous form is achieved by inert gas condensation [70][71][72], vapor deposition/sputtering [73][74][75][76][77], and plasma processing [78].…”

Recent Developments on the Thermal Properties, Stability and Applications of Nanofluids in Machining, Solar Energy and Biomedicine

“…The NPs are prepared by physical vapor deposition (carbon nanotubes) or by the chemical liquid method (Copper nanofluid) [8][9][10]. In the two-step method, NPs are first produced in processes such as dry powder by inert gas condensation (aluminum, copper, molybdenum, platinum, titanium, and iron oxides Nps) [11], mechanical alloying (Ni 3 S 2 , Mg 2 Ti 4 , CoFe 2 O 4 ) [12][13][14], chemical vapor deposition (Boron nitride nanotubes, Carbon nanotubes, Fe 3 O 4 ) [15][16][17], or chemical deposition (PbS) [18], and, after the appropriate separation and drying processes, are dispersed in the fluid [8,19]. As the tendency of agglomeration is greater in this step, methods such as ultrasonic agitation and the addition of surfactants are used to improve the dispersion and thermal properties [8].…”