Synthesis of the silica@graphene oxide microspheres with core-shell structure as drug carriers

The silica@graphene oxide (SiO₂-NH₂@GO) microspheres with core-shell structure were synthesized through the electrostatic interactions by encapsulation of graphene oxide on the surface of amino modified silica microspheres. The as-prepared microspheres were characterized by FT-IR, SEM, TEM and UV, etc. The results show that the SiO₂-NH₂@GO microspheres are monodispersed with the diameter of 550 nm. GO wrapped on SiO₂ surface evenly which were examined by SEM and TEM. Compared with pure SiO₂, the drug loading of SiO₂-NH₂@GO microspheres was increased highly from 42.9% to 68.8% after immersed in ibuprofen solution, the 92% drug was released after soaked for 24 h and the administration time was prolonged about 20 h. This implies that the monodispersed SiO₂-NH₂@GO microspheres synthesized in this work have potential usage as drug carriers in the biomedical fields.