Microwave Thermally Assisted Porous Structured Cerium Oxide/Zinc Oxide Design: Fabrication, Electrochemical Activity Towards Pb Ions, Anticancer Assessment in HeLa and VERO Cell Lines

Abstract

In this research work, Cerium Oxide/Zinc Oxide (CeO2/ZnO) composite nanorods are fabricated on aluminium foil substrate using microwave assisted hydrothermal technique. Their crystalline and morphological properties were confirmed using X-Ray diffraction technique (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The aim is to estimate the potential purpose for implementing to possible lead sensor and to analyse their anti-cancer properties against HeLa cells for cervical cancer applications. The developed structural CeO2/ZnO composite and ZnO nanoparticle systems have been evaluated for anti-cancer efficacy against HeLa (cervical cancerous cell line) and normal (VERO-non cancerous) cell lines. Their results reveal that, CeO2/ZnO composite nanorods have higher cytotoxic behavior than ZnO NPs against HeLa cancer cells. Under optimized conditions, cyclic voltammetry (CV) was used to study the surface area and employed as working electrode to exploit on sensor characteristics towards the Pb ions. The substantial working electrode characteristics were investigated in phosphate buffer solution (PBS pH 7.4) diluted rice water medium using CV towards typical Pb ions detection. Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) reveals the sensitivity (19.32 µM/mA) with detection limit (LOD) 14.7 nM and compared with previously reported electrodes exhibiting significant electrochemical sensing activity towards Pb ions. Thus the outcomes on structural CeO2/ZnO composite system can be used as electrochemical lead sensor and cervical cancer diagnosis applications.