A novel high doxorubicin-loaded Fe3O4@void@ZnO nanocomposite: pH-controlled drug release and targeted antitumor activity

A novel ferroferric oxide (Fe 3 O 4 )@void@zinc oxide (ZnO) nanocomposite was constructed through a template-assisted selective etching method. The experiment results showed that the magnetic saturation value of nanocomposite could reach to 44.07 emu g −1 , indicating the favorable magnetic targeting function. The presence of the void endowed the nanocomposite with high drug doxorubicin (DOX) loading capacity (85.65 μg mg −1 ). The pH-sensitive drug release was realized due to the gating effect of ZnO, and the DOX release rates were 92.7%, 60.8% and 23.4% at the pH values of 5.0, 6.5 and 7.4, respectively (37 °C). Besides, the Fe 3 O 4 @void@ZnO-DOX exhibited desirable antitumor effects attributed to their cellular uptake and above advantages. Therefore, the Fe 3 O 4 @void@ZnO nanocomposite may serve as a promising drug carrier in cancer therapy and other biomedical applications.