ZnO/CeO2 Nanocomposites: Metal-Organic Framework-Mediated Synthesis, Characterization, and Estimation of Cellular Toxicity toward Liver Cancer Cells
Toqa Alabyadh, Riyadh Albadri, Ali Es‐haghi, Mohammad Ehsan Taghavizadeh Yazdi, Narges Ajalli, Abbas Rahdar, Vijay Kumar Thakur
Abstract
The Zinc-doped cerium oxide nanocomposite (ZnO/CeO2 NC) was synthesized using a metal-organic framework as a precursor through the combustion method. It was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), field emission electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive analysis (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and ξ-potential. The PXRD demonstrated the successful synthesis of ZnO/CeO2 NC with a crystallite size of 31.9 nm. FESEM and TEM images displayed hexagonal and spherical morphologies, and the solid-phase size was 65.03 ± 30.86 nm for ZnO/CeO2 NCs. DLS, TEM, and FESEM showed that the NCs have a high tendency for agglomeration/aggregation in both aqueous media and solid phase. The anticancer attributes of ZnO/CeO2 NC were investigated against Liver cancer cells (HepG2), which showed inhibition of cancer cell growth on a concentration-dependent gradient. The cell toxicity effects of ZnO/CeO2 nanocomposites were also studied toward NIH-3T3, in which the data displayed the lower toxicity of NC compared to the HepG2 cell line.