Effect of textural properties on the drug delivery behaviour of nanoporous TiO2 matrices

In this work several nanoporous titania powders have been considered as potential carriers for the sustained release of ibuprofen, used as model drug. The textural features and the physico-chemical nature of the surface carriers have been investigated by means of N2 physisorption measurements and FT-IR analyses. The delivery profiles have been collected in vitro in physiological solution at pH 7.4, maintaining the temperature at 37 °C. It has been possible to observe a close correlation between the drug release kinetic and the textural properties of the carriers, in particular for what concerns their pores dimension. The choice of the proper synthetic approach allows a high control of the properties of the final material and of its behaviour in the drug delivery process that can be controlled to a very high extent.

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► Nanoporous TiO2 can be used as matrix for the sustained release of a drug.
► The synthetic procedure strongly affects the physical properties of the matrix.
► A close correlation between the pores dimension of TiO2 and the drug release exists.
► Both the dimension and the unimodal nature of the pores affects the release rate.