Magneto-structural and antimicrobial properties of sodium doped lanthanum manganite magnetic nanoparticles for biomedical applications: Influence of silica coating

Coating of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) is usually a requirement prior to their utilization in biomedical applications. However, coating can influence the magneto-structural properties of MNPs thereby imparting their applications. The present work highlights the combustion synthesis of Na-doped lanthanum manganites (LNMO) and the influence of silica coatings on the magneto-structural properties, colloidal stability and antimicrobial properties of LNMO MNPs with their biomedical applications in mind. The crystalline perovskite structure was the same both for the bare and silica coated LNMO samples while there was a slight increase in crystallite size after coating. The FTIR spectral analysis, reduction in agglomeration of the particles and the elemental composition of the coated nanoparticles confirmed the presence of silica. The magnetization values of 34 emu/g and 29 emu/g recorded for bare and coated LNMO samples, respectively show that LNMO MNPs retained its ferromagnetic behaviour after silica coating. The pH dependent zeta potentials of the coated sample is -22.20 mV at pH 7.4 (physiological pH) and -18 mV at pH 5.0 (cell endosomal pH). Generally, silica coating reduced the antibacterial activity of the sample except for Bacillus spp where the antibacterial activity was the same with the bare sample. These results showed that while silica coating had marginal effect on the crystalline structure, size and magnetization of LNMO MNPs, it reduced the antibacterial activity of LNMO MNPs and enhanced greatly the colloidal stability of LNMO nanoparticles.