Non-ionic surfactants As co-templates to control the mesopore diameter of hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles for drug delivery applications

Abstract

Hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles (HMSN) with unique properties are increasingly being applied in drug delivery field. To be able to encapsulate desired agents with different molecular size such as drugs, nucleic acids, polysaccharides and proteins … into the hollow cavity, the control of HMSN’s meso-chennal diameter is one of the pioneering and decisive factors. This study aims to use non-ionic surfactants (S) including Tween 20, Tween 80 and Brij S10 as co-templates with Cetrimonium bromide (CTAB) to control the mesopore diameter. HMSN was synthesized with hard template method following three main steps and S with different molar ratios would be prepare mixed micelles with CTAB and added into the synthesis mixture at the mesoporous coating step. Dynamic Light Scaterring (DLS) measurement was conducted for mixed micelles S-CTAB, meanwhile Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) Surface Area Analysis and Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) Pore Size and Volume Analysis were conducted for the synthesized HMSN with S-CTAB to evaluate the influence of S on HMSN’s mesopore diameter. Rose Bengal with molecular weight of 1017.64 g/mol was used as the model drug to evaluate drug loading capacity and release profile of the enlarged-mesopore system. Additionally, Zeta potential, SEM, TEM, XRD, FT-IR and cytotoxicity were conducted to characterize the synthesized particles. This study would contribute a meaningful approach to control the mesopore diameter of HMSN using non-ionic surfactants for drug delivery applications.