Functionalization of Magnetic Hollow Spheres With (3-Aminopropyl)Triethoxysilane for Controlled Drug Release

Direct functionalization strategy has been employed to modify the surface of the magnetic hollow spheres (MHS) with (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) for controlled drug release. The MHS were prepared by the solvothermal method and characterized by X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometer. The FE-SEM study shows that MHS have a size of ~200 nm and are made up of smaller nanoparticles (NPs) having average size of ~20–25 nm. MHS exhibits a superparamagnetic behavior with a saturation magnetization of 74 emu/g at room temperature. The direct functionalization of MHS with APTES provided an efficient loading of model anti-cancer drug Camptothecin (CPT). The drug release study performed at pH of 7.4 showed 30% of CPT release in a controlled way after 4 h.