Assembled Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles on Zn–Al LDH nanosheets as a biocompatible drug delivery vehicle for pH-responsive drug release and enhanced anticancer activity

This article presented a facile two-step hydrothermal strategy to anchor the Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles on the surface of Zn–Al LDH nanosheets, and investigated systematically the potential application of the constructed Fe₃O₄/Zn-Al LDH nanocomposites in the biomedical field of controlled drug delivery. It was revealed that the formed Fe₃O₄/Zn-Al LDH nanocomposites exhibited uniform mesopores, high surface area of 121.7 m²/g, good superparamagnetism and appropriate saturation magnetization of 40.7 emu/g. Due to these fascinating properties, this work explored the application of Fe₃O₄/Zn-Al LDH in the field of nanocarrier using the doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) as a model anticancer drug for the detailed investigations of drug loading capacity, controlled release behavior and cytotoxic effects under in vitro conditions. The Fe₃O₄/Zn-Al LDH showed a good drug storage capacity and a pH-responsive drug release profile. After loading the anti-cancer drugs, the DOX-loaded Fe₃O₄/Zn-Al LDH exhibited enhanced therapeutic effect on human hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2), demonstrating that the fabricated Fe₃O₄/Zn-Al LDH nanocomposites have a great potential in cancer therapy.