Preparation and characterization of magnetic-lignin nanoparticles with potential applications for drug delivery

Abstract

This study successfully combined Fe3O4 nanoparticles (made by co-precipitation technique) and lignin (extracted from sugarcane bagasse) as magnetic-lignin nanoparticles. The factors affecting the synthesis such as ratio of Fe3O4/lignin and reaction time were investigated. Fe3O4@lignin nanoparticles were obtained at optimal conditions, including the ratio between Fe3O4 and lignin of 1:0.5 and the reaction time of 9 hours. The resulting nanoparticles were spherical and had a fairly uniform particle size distribution, with an average diameter of 53.42 ± 5.12 nm (obtained from SEM images). The thermal stability of Fe3O4/lignin nanoparticles is quite stable and lignin content in hybrid Fe3O4/lignin particles is estimated to account for about 32.82%. FTIR results show a successful combination of Fe3O4 and lignin. The magnetic saturation of Fe3O4/lignin nanoparticles was determined by a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) with values of 50.8 emu.g-1, showed that the material keeps its super-paramagnetic properties, which is critical for their application in drug delivery field.