Abstract
Recent years have witnessed a tremendous interest in the use of essential oils in biomedical applications due to their intrinsic antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anticancer properties. However, their low aqueous solubility and high volatility compromise their maximum potential, thus requiring the development of efficient supports for their delivery. Hence, this manuscript focuses on developing nanostructured systems based on Fe3O4@SiO2 core–shell nanoparticles and three different types of essential oils, i.e., thyme, rosemary, and basil, to overcome these limitations. Specifically, this work represents a comparative study between co-precipitation and microwave-assisted hydrothermal methods for the synthesis of Fe3O4@SiO2 core–shell nanoparticles. All magnetic samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), dynamic light scattering (DLS), zeta potential, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry (TG-DSC), and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) to study the impact of the synthesis method on the nanoparticle formation and properties, in terms of crystallinity, purity, size, morphology, stability, and magnetization. Moreover, the antimicrobial properties of the synthesized nanocomposites were assessed through in vitro tests on Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, and Candida albicans. In this manner, this study demonstrated the efficiency of the core–shell nanostructured systems as potential applications in antimicrobial therapies.
Highlights
Human existence is essentially dependent on the action of microorganisms, as they play fundamental roles in the fixation of nitrogen, production of vitamins, photosynthesis, and decomposition of organic matter [1,2,3]
The present study aimed to develop Fe3 O4 @SiO2 core–shell nanoparticles as efficient carriers for the delivery and controlled release of three types of EOs, namely thyme, rosemary, and basil
The Fe3 O4 @SiO2 core–shell nanoparticles were synthesized through the co-precipitation and microwave-assisted hydrothermal methods in order to establish the influence of the synthesis method on the properties of the nanosystems
Summary
Human existence is essentially dependent on the action of microorganisms, as they play fundamental roles in the fixation of nitrogen, production of vitamins, photosynthesis, and decomposition of organic matter [1,2,3]. With regard to the current antimicrobial resistance crisis, EOs have proven their efficiency by targeting microbial cell walls or membranes, cellular respiration processes, or quorum sensing mechanisms [19,24] Despite their tremendous potential, EOs have a series of limitations associated with their increased hydrophobicity, volatility, lipophilicity, and oxidation susceptibility and decreased solubility and stability [21,25]. Owing to its high surface reactivity due to the high amount of hydroxyl groups onto the surface, silica was added in order to enhance the immobilization of EOs within the systems (Figure 1) In this context, the current study involves synthesizing composite core–shell nanoparticles comprising magnetite cores and silica layers obtained through two different methods, namely co-precipitation and the microwave-assisted hydrothermal method. The nanosystems were functionalized with three different EOs, namely thyme, rosemary, and basil
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