Synthesis and Characterization of α-Fe2O3 NPs and Study Cytotoxicity Against MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cell line

Abstract

In this study, iron oxide nanoparticles were synthesized using two different methods: chemical precipitation and the sol-gel method, starting from ferric nitrate (Fe (NO₃)₃.9H₂O). Initially, iron hydroxide was obtained from the corresponding salt, followed by calcination at 500 °C for five hours to produce the nanoparticles. The synthesized oxides were characterized using various techniques, including TEM and FE-SEM techniques to examine the surface nanoparticles morphology, size and study the microstructures, XRD to analyze the crystalline structures of nanoparticles and EDX to analyze the elemental composition of nanomaterials. The anticancer activity of the synthesized nanoparticles was evaluated against breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7) using an MTT assay at concentrations ranging (0 to 320 µg/mL. The results demonstrated that the nanoparticles possess distinctive physical and chemical properties and exhibit anticancer activity. Furthermore, the study found that the preparation method significantly influences the shape, size, and biological effectiveness of the nanoparticles. Hence, the findings highlight the importance of selecting an appropriate preparation method to enhance the desired properties of these particles.