Farah Kanwal
University of the Punjab, Pakistan
Title: Synthesis and characterization of polysaccharide-coated nickel ferrite nanoparticles as a biomaterial candidate
Biography
Biography: Farah Kanwal
Abstract
Nickel ferrite, NiFe2O4 nanoparticles (NFNPs) have been synthesized by chemical co-precipitation method. To enhance biomaterial potential of nickel ferrite NPs, their surface was tuned with biocompatible food grade polysaccharide polymer called glucomannan. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) were used to probe the effect and nature of coating on surface of nickel ferrite NPs. The surface morphology and dispersion of native and coated NFNPs was studied by scanning electron microscope (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) respectively. Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) studies reveals that no particular effect of coating was observed on magnetic saturation (Ms),76.22 emu/g and ferromagnetic behaviour of NFNPs. Cell culture studies are exhibiting the less cytotoxicity mode of glucomannan coated NFNPs(NFNPs-Glu) over uncoated ferrite nanocrystals when tested against Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line upto 2.2 mg/ml. The non-toxic, monodisperse, magnetic and biocompatible behaviour of glucomannan modified NFNPs make them a promising candidate for biomaterial applications as a contrast agent in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and drug delivery.