Anticancer potential of Barium titanate nanoparticles: Structural, optical and biomedical perspectives

The scope of biomedical applications of Barium Titanate (BaTiO 3 ) nanoparticles is enormous and ascribable to its extraordinary structural and optical properties. The current work reports the broad structural characterization and evaluation of interactions of sol-gel synthesized BaTiO 3 nanoparticles with biological systems. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the formation of single-phase tetragonal structures having an average crystallite size of 20 nm with a lattice strain of 3.0×10 -3 . The scanning electron microscopy application provided a uniform quasi-spherical morphology, and the energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy confirmed the stoichiometric ratio. The UV-Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy gave a direct measurement of the bandgap to be 3.33eV, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed the characteristic vibrations of Ti-O at 491.85cm -1 . The most important biological assessment with Alamar Blue assay exhibited high biocompatibility with L929 fibroblast cells, maintaining high cell viability at higher concentrations. These also displayed selective cytotoxicity toward MCF-7 breast cancer cells, which further suggests their potential use in therapeutic applications. Selective behavior combined with well-defined structural and optical properties provides these BaTiO 3 nanoparticles a high potential for targeted cancer therapy. The study significantly contributes to the development of biocompatible ceramic nanoparticles as novel biomedical applications, especially in cancer therapy. • BaTiO 3 nanoparticles synthesized via sol-gel method exhibit uniform spherical morphology with 20 nm crystallite size. • XRD, SEM-EDS, UV-DRS, and FTIR analyses confirm high crystallinity, purity, and a 3.33 eV direct bandgap. • Excellent biocompatibility with L929 fibroblast cells, maintaining >80% viability even at 2000 μg/mL. • Selective cytotoxicity observed against MCF-7 breast cancer cells, indicating anticancer potential. • Structural and optical features support BaTiO 3 nanoparticles as promising candidates for targeted cancer therapy.