One-minute and green synthesis of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles assisted by design of experiments and high energy ultrasound: Application to biosensing and immunoprecipitation

• DOI: 10.1016/j.msec.2021.112023
• Publication Date: 2021-03-11T04:35:00Z
• Authors: Christian Hazael ...; Juan José García-...; Bibiana Ferreira; Osvaldo Estévez-H...; David López-Iglesias; Laura Cubillana-A...; Wolfgang Link; N. Stănică; Ana Maria Rosa da...; José María Palaci...
• Keywords: Biosensing; Magnetic Phenomena; High-energy ultrasoundIron oxides; Iron oxides; 01 natural sciences; 0104 chemical sciences; 1 min-synthesis; Magnetics; Magnetic nanoparticles; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; High-energy ultrasound; Immunoprecipitation; Magnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles; Magnetite Nanoparticles; Design of experiments

The present study is focused on the ultrafast and green synthesis, via the co-precipitation method, of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) based on iron oxides using design of experiments (DOE) and high energy sonochemical approach, considering two main factors: amplitude (energy) of the ultrasound probe and sonication time. The combination of these techniques allowed the development of a novel one-minute green synthesis, which drastically reduced the amount of consumed energy, solvents, reagents, time and produced residues. This green sonochemical synthesis permitted to obtain mean particle sizes of 11 ± 2 nm under the optimized conditions of amplitude = 40% (2826 J) and time = 1 min. Their composition, structure, size, morphology and magnetic properties were assessed through X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM & TEM), and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). The characterization results indicate the proper formation of MNPs, and the correct functionalization of MNPs with different coating agents. The functionalized MNPs were used as: i) biosensor, which could detect mercury in water in the range of 0.030-0.060 ppm, and ii) support onto which polyclonal antibodies were anchored and successfully bound to an osteosarcoma cell line expressing the target protein (TRIB2-GFP), as part of an immunoprecipitation assay.