Synthesis of nano-ZIF-90 from zinc sulfate heptahydrate and evaluation of its stability for use as a cancer drug carrier

The paper presents the first research results on the synthesis of nano-ZIF-90 from zinc sulfate heptahydrate at room temperature. The factors of solvent composition, crystallization time and repeatability of the synthesis process of nano-ZIF-90 from ZnSO4.7H2O have been reported. The stability of synthesized nano-ZIF-90 according to temperature and environmental pH to be used as a drug carrier for cancer treatment is also discussed. XRD, F-TIR, SEM, TEM, BET and DTA/TGA methods have been used to characterize the structure and properties of the studied samples. The synthesized nano-ZIF-90 material has crystallinity of 100 % (by XRD), specific surface area of 468 m2/g (by BET), crystal size of 43 nm (by TEM), and thermal stability up to 250 oC. In particular, it was determined that at pH = 5.5, the nano-ZIF-90 structure began to break down, increasing the ability to deliver cancer-targeted anti-cancer drugs due to structural collapse when using nano-ZIF-90 as a drug carrier.