Investigation of antibacterial, antioxidant, and anticancer properties of hydrothermally synthesized cobalt ferrite nanoparticles

Here, we have investigated the antibacterial, antioxidant, and anticancer potential of cobalt ferrite nanoparticles (CFNs) which were synthesized using a hydrothermal route. X-ray diffraction pattern showed pure phase and good crystallinity of the synthesized CFNs. These CFNs are found to be non-spherical in shape within the size range of 28–48 nm as revealed from scanning electron microscopy. The pure phase of CFNs was further confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopic results. Magnetic measurements showed ferromagnetic behaviour of CFNs with a saturation magnetization of 44.58 emu·g−1 at room temperature. The antioxidant capability which was assessed using DPPH assay as a model reaction showed that CFNs exhibit good antioxidant potential compared to ascorbic acid. The inhibitory concentration (IC50) value of CFNs is found to be 133.84 ± 6.38 μg/ml compared to ascorbic acid with IC50 of 79.54 ± 3.91 μg/ml. The antibacterial activities of CFNs were performed on Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) and Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus). The CFNs showed potent antibacterial activities against all these bacteria with IC50 values of 12.81 ± 1.86 μg/ml (E. coli), 5.25 ± 0.18 μg/ml (S. aureus), and 17.30 ± 1.99 μg/ml (B. cereus). In addition, the anticancer effects of CFNs were evaluated on human embryonic kidney (HEK-293) and MCF-7 breast cancer cells. It was found that CFNs suppressed the growth of MCF-7 cancer cells at 100 μg/ml; however, it did not show any significant cytotoxic action on HEK-293 normal cells. These results suggest that CFNs could be a potential candidate for anticancer, antibacterial, and related biomedical applications.