Physicochemical Characterization of Iron Oxide Nanoparticle Coated with Chitosan for Biomedical Application

Aims: Synthesize and characterize a bio-polymer coated iron oxide nanoparticle, which has the potency to be used as an appropriate biomaterial for biomedical purpose. Magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (MNPs) with biological coating exhibits many properties that can be exploited in a variety of biomedical applications.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was performed at Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR), Dhaka, Bangladesh from August 2013 to August 2014.

Methodology: This research work describes the in-situ synthesis of chitosan-coated magnetic nanoparticles (CS MNPs) by co precipitation method where trisodium phosphate is added as ionic cross-linker. Analytical characterization of synthesized nanoparticles was performed using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).

Results: The XRD analysis proved that the synthesized iron oxide was magnetite (Fe3O4). The layer of chitosan on the magnetite surface was confirmed by FTIR. SEM image demonstrated a comparable morphology. The average diameter of synthesized nanoparticle was found to be 13.4 nm from XRD crystallite size analysis. TGA result indicated that the chitosan content of CS MNP were 29% by weight.

Conclusion: The synthesized MNPs have many potential applications in biomedicine including targeted drug delivery, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and magnetic hyperthermia.