CONTROLLING THE PARTICLE SIZE AND PORE SIZE OF THE MESOPOROUS SIO2 NANOPARTICLES FOR ENHANCED DRUG LOADING EFFICIENCY

Abstract

 In this work, we focus on synthesizing mesoporous SiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) with various sizes and pore sizes for enhancing BET surface area to apply in drug delivery by a simple modified Stober method. By adjusting the concentration of ethanol in the solvent mixture of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), four samples with particle sizes in a range of 50 nm to 350 nm and with average pore size in a range of 2.72 nm to 8.29 nm were obtained. The SiO₂ NPs exhibit a mesoporous structure with an amorphous phase, and perfect spherical morphology. The N₂ adsorption-desorption analysis reveals that mesoporous SiO₂ NPs display high BET surface values, which depend strongly on the synthesis condition as well as the particle diameters and pore sizes. The BET values increase from 848 m²/g to 1019 m²/g when the concentration of ethanol in the solvents decreases from 20% to 10%. The Doxorubicin (DOX) loading property were investigated as well. The highest amount of loaded DOX was achieved with 98% loading efficiency as 99 μg/mg for the SiO₂ Nps with  smallest size. The results suggest that the high surface mesoporous SiO₂ has great potential in drug delivery applications.