Synthesis and Characterization of DHA/ZnO/ZnFe2O4 Nanostructures for Biomedical Imaging Application

DHA/ZnO/ZnFe2O4 nanostructures having crystalline size below 20 nm were synthesized by hydrothermal process in the presence of a small amount of biologically useful molecule (ascorbic acid, AA) and oxidized form of AA (dehydroscorbic acid, DHA) binds with nanostructures to modified their surface which provides them water dispersible property because of hydrophilic character of DHA. Crystalline phase and size of the synthesized nanostructures were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). The formation of ZnO and ZnFe2O4 phases were further confirmed by means of their IR characteristic bands and the binding of DHA with ZnO/ZnFe2O4 nanostructures were confirmed by IR spectroscopy. MRI contrast behavior of nanostructures was studied by T1, T2 weighted MRI imaging of nanostructures dispersed water phantoms, its T1 and T2 relaxivity value were found to be 21.76 and 0.148 ppm-1mS-1 which reveals that these nanostructure has T2 contrast property and can generate contrast more effectively in T2 weighted MRI images. Optical property of ZnO, magnetic property of ZnF2O4, nontoxic metal constitutes and biologically important dehydroascorbic acid molecule binding with ZnO/ZnFe2O4 suggested their suitability for biomedical application.