Study of the effect of surface modification of Fe ₃ O ₄ and CoFe ₂ O ₄ for application as a drug delivery

Abstract

In this work, the obtention and characterization of Fe₃O₄ and CoFe₂O₄ associated to tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (APTS) were proposed, aiming to evaluate the effect of surface modification of magnetic particles on structural, morphological and magnetic properties for application as a drug carrier. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, textural analysis, scanning electron microscopy and magnetic measurements. The results showed that Fe₃O₄ and CoFe₂O₄ were synthesized successfully. The presence of the Fe₃O₄ main phase was observed in the system obtained with Fe₃O₄/SiO₂ and CoFe₂O₄ in the system obtained with CoFe₂O₄/SiO₂. The formation of hybrids (core-shell) was confirmed by the presence of characteristic bands of silica. The systems obtained with Fe₃O₄ had larger particle diameters than those formed with CoFe₂O₄, both formed by agglomerates of irregular size and shape and with typical behavior of ferrimagnetic materials.

Keywords:
surface modification; Fe₃O₄; CoFe₂O₄; drug delivery