Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub>/HA-APTES Nanocomposite as Drug Delivery Agent

Fe 3 O 4 /Hydroxyapatite (HA)-(3-Aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) nanocomposite as a drug delivery agent was successfully synthesized. The nanocomposite was characterized using X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy to investigate the structural, morphology, magnetic properties, and DOX drug loading and release efficiency. The XRD pattern of Fe 3 O 4 /HA-APTES nanocomposite showed the formation of two phases with cubic spinel structure for Fe 3 O 4 and hexagonal structure for HA. The SEM image showed that the nanocomposite morphology tended to be granular (though not perfectly granular) with a particle size distribution of 65.9 nm. The functional groups detected from the FTIR results were Fe-O at 422–602 cm -1 , indicating Fe 3 O 4 . Furthermore, vibrations of the phosphate group (PO 4 3- ) and Si-O-C appeared at 1037 cm -1 and 1048 cm -1 , which are characteristic of the phosphate stretch in the HA and APTES. The Fe 3 O 4 /HA-APTES nanocomposite exhibited superparamagnetic properties with a saturation magnetization value of 19.37 emu/g. As a drug delivery agent, the Fe 3 O 4 /HA-APTES nanocomposite has a DOX loading efficiency of 5.79 mg/g up to 96.51% for eight hours and a release of 16.36% over 300 min.