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Wrap–bake–peel process for nanostructural transformation from β-FeOOH nanorods to biocompatible iron oxide nanocapsules

Nature Materials volume 7, pages 242–247 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

The thermal treatment of nanostructured materials to improve their properties generally results in undesirable aggregation and sintering. Here, we report on a novel wrap–bake–peel process, which involves silica coating, heat treatment and finally the removal of the silica layer, to transform the phases and structures of nanostructured materials while preserving their nanostructural characteristics. We demonstrate, as a proof-of-concept, the fabrication of water-dispersible and biocompatible hollow iron oxide nanocapsules by applying this wrap–bake–peel process to spindle-shaped akagenite (β-FeOOH) nanoparticles. Depending on the heat treatment conditions, hollow nanocapsules of either haematite or magnetite were produced. The synthesized water-dispersible magnetite nanocapsules were successfully used not only as a drug-delivery vehicle, but also as a T2 magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent. The current process is generally applicable, and was used to transform heterostructured FePt nanoparticles to high-temperature face-centred-tetragonal-phase FePt alloy nanocrystals.

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Figure 1
Figure 2: TEM images of each product.
Figure 3: T2-weighted magnetic resonance images of the magnetite nanocapsules.
Figure 4: Uptake of free DOX and PEG–MNC–DOX in cancer cells and cytotoxicity data.
Figure 5: TEM images of each product.

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Acknowledgements

T.H. acknowledges financial support by the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology through the National Creative Research Initiative Program of the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Creative Research Initiative Center for Oxide Nanocrystalline Materials and School of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-744, South Korea

    Yuanzhe Piao, Jaeyun Kim, Hyon Bin Na, Dokyoon Kim, Mohammadreza Shokouhimehr & Taeghwan Hyeon

  2. Department of Radiology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul 135-710, South Korea

    Ji Seon Baek, Mi Kyeong Ko & Jung Hee Lee

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  1. Yuanzhe Piao
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Piao, Y., Kim, J., Na, H. et al. Wrap–bake–peel process for nanostructural transformation from β-FeOOH nanorods to biocompatible iron oxide nanocapsules. Nature Mater 7, 242–247 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2118

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