Mesoporous titanium dioxide@ zinc oxide–graphene oxide nanocarriers for colon-specific drug delivery

Abstract

In this project, TiO2@ZnO nanoparticles core–shell nanostructured and titanium dioxide@ mesoporous zinc oxide–graphene oxide (TiO2@ZnO–GO) hybrid nanocomposites as controlled targeted drug delivery systems were synthesized by a facile sono-chemical method. We prepared a novel mesoporous and core–shell structure as a drug nanocarrier (NCs) for the loading and pH-responsive characteristics of the chemotherapeutic curcumin. The structure, surface charge, and surface morphology of NCs were studied using with X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, brunauer–emmett–teller, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The SEM and TEM images of NCs show the uniform hexagonal mesoporous morphology with average grain size of about ∼ 190 nm. The drug loading was very high about 16 and 19 for TiO2@ZnO and TiO2@ZnO–GO, respectively. The NCs showed pH-dependent drug release behavior. Drug release from TiO2@ZnO–GO in neutral pH were higher than in acidic medium, due to anionic charge of GO nanosheet. MTT assay results showed that the curcumin-loaded NCs showed significant toxicity due to which cell viability reduced to below 50% at 140 μg/mL concentration, thereby confirming its anticancer effects. The goal of this study is the application of water-dispersed TiO2@ZnO–GO with pH-dependent release properties for design a new drug delivery carrier.