Luminescent and Magnetic α-Fe2O3@Y2O3:Eu3+ Bifunctional Hollow Microspheres for Drug Delivery

Fluorescent and magnetic bifunctional nano materials have found several applications in life sciences, including biological labeling, magnetic resonance imaging, gene therapy, and nanodrug delivery. In this work, we develop a facile route that combines the assisted-template approach with a homogeneousco-precipitation method and a high temperature calcination process, allowing the successful preparation of fluorescent magnetic alpha-Fe2O3@Y2O3:Eu3+ bifunctional hollow microspheres (BHMs) with mesoporous shells and hollow-core structures. Scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, emission spectroscopy, magnetic testing, and N-2, adsorption techniques were employed to characterize the fluorescent magnetic alpha-Fe2O3@Y2O3:Eu3+ BHMs. The results showed that the resulting BHMs exhibited uniformly spherical morphologies with mesoporous shells and hollow-core structures and were characterized by good dispersibility, photofluorescence, and magnetic responsiveness in solution. Ibuprofen loading and drug-release simulation experiments showed that the BHMs exhibited a high drug-loading capacity (126 mg/g) and a sustained drug-release profile, which would allow them to be employed as nanodrug carriers for the therapeutic treatment of malignant tumors.