Titanate–silica mesostructured nanocables: synthesis, structural analysis and biomedical applications

1D hierarchical composite mesostructures of titanate and silica were synthesized via an interfacial surfactant templating approach. Such mesostructures have complex core-shell architectures consisting of single-crystalline H(2)Ti(3)O(7) nanobelts inside the ordered mesoporous SiO(2) shell, which are nontoxic and highly biocompatible. The overall diameter of as-prepared 1D hierarchical composite mesostructures is only approx. 34.2 nm with a length over 500 nm on average. A model to explain the formation mechanism of these mesostructures has been proposed; the negatively charged surface of H(2)Ti(3)O(7) nanobelts controls the formation of the octadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (C(18)TAB) bilayer, which in turn regulates the cooperative self-assembly of silica and C(18)TAB complex micelles on the interface to produce a mesoporous silica shell. More importantly, the application of synthesized mesostructured nanocables as anticancer drug reservoirs has also been explored, which indicates that the membranes containing these mesoporous nanocables have a great potential to be used as transdermal drug delivery systems.