Synthesis and characterization of highly efficacious Fe-doped ceria nanoparticles for cytotoxic and antifungal activity

Abstract

Ceria nanoparticles (NPs) are promising materials for their superior anticancer and antifungal activities. In this work, we synthesized Fe-doped ceria NPs by co-precipitation method using xanthan gum (XG) as a green capping agent. The NPs were calcined at different temperatures ranging from 200 to 800 °C. The crystallinity, crystallite size, structure, particle size, morphology, and magnetic property of the NPs were investigated by using x-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, vibrating sample magnetization, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and dynamic light scattering. The influence of calcination temperature on the crystallite size was critically examined. The crystallize size of the Fe-doped ceria NPs was dependent on the calcination process and increased with increasing temperature. Nanocrystalline ceria particles with spherical morphology was chosen for cytotoxic studies. Anticancer activities were investigated against Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 breast cancer cell lines through 3–4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)− 2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay while antifungal activities against clinical isolates of C. albicans. Fe-doped ceria NPs reduced the cell viability to about 21% of the control after 72 h of exposure. The NPs have the necessary promises for use as an effective agent toward therapy of cancer cells. The antifungal study indicated that Fe-doped ceria NPs are effective anti-fungal agent and exhibit superior activity compared to an antibiotic, fluconazole.