Magnetic nanospheres are becoming a promising platform
for a wide
range of applications in pharmacy, life science, and immunodiagnostics
due to their high surface area, ease of synthesis and manipulation,
fast separation, good biocompatibility, and recyclable performance.
In this work, an innovative and efficient method is developed by in
situ reducing and growing Ni(OH)2 for the preparation of
dendritic mesoporous nanocomposites of silica@Fe3O4/tannic acid@nickel hydroxide (dSiO2@Fe3O4/TA@Ni(OH)2). The flower-like nanospheres
have good magnetic response, large surface area, and high histidine-rich
protein (His-protein) purification performance. The dSiO2@Fe3O4/TA@Ni(OH)2 nanospheres were
synthesized on the basis of a φ(NaSal/CTAB) of 1/1 and a mass
of ferrous chloride tetrahydrate of 0.3 g, resulting in a saturation
magnetization value of 48.21 emu/g, which means it can be collected
within ∼1 min using a magnetic stand. Also, the BET test showed
that the surface area is 92.47 m2/g and the pore size is
∼3.9 nm for dSiO2@Fe3O4/TA@Ni(OH)2 nanocomposites. Notably, the nickel hydroxide with unique
flower-like structural features enables the combination of a large
number of Ni2+ ions and His-proteins for high performance.
The isolation and purification experiments of the synthesized dSiO2@Fe3O4/TA@Ni(OH)2 were performed
by separating His-proteins from a matrix composed of bovine hemoglobin
(BHb), bovine serum albumin (BSA), and lysozyme (LYZ). The result
showed that the nanospheres have a high combination capacity of ∼1880
mg/g in a rapid equilibrium time of 20 min, which was selective for
the adsorption of BHb. In addition, the stability and recyclability
of BHb are 80% after seven cycles. Furthermore, the nanospheres were
also used to isolate His-proteins from fetal bovine serum, proving
its utility. Therefore, the strategy of separating and purifying His-proteins
using dSiO2@Fe3O4/TA@Ni(OH)2 nanospheres is promising for practical applications.