Fabrication of magnetic silica-pillared clay (SPC) nanocomposites with ordered interlayer mesoporous structure for controlled drug release

• The magnetic silica-pillared clay were synthesized through gallery self-assembly method.
• The mainly magnetic oxides formed in the gallery pillars is Fe3O4.
• The synthesized magnetic silica-pillared clay exhibit superparamagnetic behavior at room temperature.
• The formed progress of magnetic silica-pillared clay was proposed.

Magnetic silica-pillared clay with ordered layered structure and uniform gallery pore size distribution were synthesized by generating magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles onto the mesoporous silica-pillared clay hosts using molecular self-assembly method. The obtained magnetic silica-pillared clay samples have been characterized by elemental analysis (XRF), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectra, X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Such results indicate that the formed magnetic silica-pillared clay keeps the ordered layered structure and uniform gallery pore size, and the magnetic nanoparticles generated onto the silica-pillared clay host is mainly composed of Fe3O4. Magnetic measurements reveal that these composites possess super paramagnetic properties at 300 K, and the saturation magnetization increases with increasing Fe ratio loaded. These magnetic silica-pillared clays show sustained release profiles with acetylsalicylic acid as the model drug. The magnetic silica-pillared clay samples show higher release rate with respect to the general silica-pillared clay.

Pictures of the Mag-SPC-3 in the presence of the magnetic field for 20 s (Left). Magnetization as a function of applied magnetic field measured at 300 K: (A) Mag-SPC-1, (B) Mag-SPC-2, (C) Mag-SPC-3 and (D) Mag-SPC-4 (Right).Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide