Hydrothermally Assisted Synthesis of Magnetic Iron Oxide-Chitosan Nanocomposites: Electrical and Biological Evaluation

Abstract

Chitosan-coated-α-Fe2O3 nanocomposites were successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal method via changing the ratio of chitosan (CS) to the iron ion precursor. TEM results showed good homogenous dispersion of α- Fe2O3 nanoparticles inside the CS matrix with particle size in the range of 7-11 nm. XRD patterns proved the formation of a typical α- Fe2O3 structure with traces of maghemite and magnetite that were proved by Raman spectra. The binding of CS to α- Fe2O3 nanoparticles was likewise proved by Fourier transform infrared spectra. Magnetic measurements disclosed high saturated magnetization (Ms) values that declined (from 18 to 5.6 emu/g) upon increasing the CS/α-Fe2O3 ratio. The frequency dependences of the dielectric constant and dielectric loss, at varying temperatures, recorded diminishing values with increasing frequency, in contrast, they showed a proportional relationship with temperature. The antiproliferative activities of the nanocomposites were assessed against four human cancer cell lines. The synthesized nanocomposites demonstrated higher cytotoxic activity against both liver cancer HepG2 and human colon cancer HCT116 cell lines, whereas they show no activity against breast MCF-7 and lung A549 cell lines. It was found that the anticancer activity of the nanocomposites correlates with their dielectric properties.