Iron Oxide Nanoparticles: Tuning to Advanced Nano Drug Delivery

Abstract

Background: Delivery of drugs in the form of nanoparticles offers several advantages that outweigh the benefits offered by other drug delivery systems. Iron oxide nanoparticles being part of nano drug delivery system tend to offer supremacy over others by providing prominent characteristics that include high superamagnetism property along with the greater surface area that can be easily modified. Also, it helps achieve site-specific drug delivery which helps in solving the complications and issues related with desired bioavailability and further aids the process of killing cancerous cells. The distinctive features and flexible pathways by which such nanoparticles can be prepared have allowed its widespread usage in various fields. Objective: The main objective of this review is to summarize various methods of preparation, modifications by coating iron oxide surface for easy surface functionalization along with several industrial applications of iron oxide nanoparticles. Methods: The method involved the collection of the articles from different search engines like Google, Pubmed and ScienceDirect for the literature in order to get appropriate information regarding iron oxide nanoparticles. Results: Studies revealed that iron oxide nanoparticles have gained attention all over the world and has led to the development of various approaches for treating medical conditions. Iron oxide nanoparticles due to the advantages that it offers are utilized in various industries including biomedical, farming and aerospace industry and fabrication of iron oxide nanoparticles is possible through various ways including methods like co-precipitation, thermal decomposition, sol-gel, hydrothermal to name a few. Further, usage of coating an iron oxide nanoparticle and using biocompatible polymers tend to enlighten the scientific research. Conclusion: Iron oxide nanoparticles proved to be an efficient drug delivery to serve medical needs. The simple techniques of manufacturing with the additional strategy of modifications have led to more advances in the field of nanotechnology.