A tailor-made protocol to synthesize yolk-shell graphene-based magnetic nanoparticles for nanomedicine

Abstract

A simple tailor-made protocol to synthesize graphene-based magnetic nanoparticles (GbMNPs) for nanomedicine is herein reported. Different GbMNPs with very distinctive physicochemical and toxicological properties were synthesized by adjusting the number of carbon precursors in the coating of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles. In vitro tests show the ability to use these GbMNPs as intelligent and on-demand drug nanocarrier systems for drug delivery, exhibiting the following features: good colloidal stability, good loading capacity of the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin, high pH-controlled release of the encapsulated drug (targeting tumour acidic pH conditions), superparamagnetic behaviour and biocompatibility. Due to their combined properties (i.e., physicochemical, magnetic, and biocompatibility), GbMNPs show high potentiality to be combined with other biomedical techniques, such as magnetic hyperthermia, which can represent an enhancement in the treatment of cancer.