Core-shell Fe3O4@ZnO nanoparticles for magnetic hyperthermia and bio-imaging applications

Combining two materials having different functional properties has become a current research area for biomedical applications. The progress of nanoplatforms brings new non-invasive imaging and therapeutic tools for cancer treatment. Here, multifunctional magnetic Fe3O4@ZnO core-shell nanoparticles (Fe3O4@ZnO CSNPs) have been developed by using a soft-chemical approach. Fe3O4@ZnO CSNPs is well characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), physical properties measurement system (PPMS), and photoluminescence spectroscopy. XRD and XPS analyses confirm the presence of both Fe3O4 and ZnO phases. TEM micrograph reveals that Fe3O4@ZnO CSNPs are spherical in shape and an average size of 10 nm. Fe3O4@ZnO CSNPs conserve the intrinsic superparamagnetic behavior of its constituent Fe3O4 with a magnetization value of ∼ 31.2 emu/g. These CSNPs exhibit good heating efficacy under the applied AC magnetic field (ACMF). Further, they show a significant reduction in viability of human cervical cancer cells (HeLa) under ACMF and good fluoresecent based cellular imaging capability. Therefore, these results suggested that the multifunctional Fe3O4@ZnO CSNPs could be used as a promising material for image-guided magnetic hyperthermia.