Microfluidic one-step synthesis of Fe₃O₄-chitosan composite particles and their applications

This paper demonstrates a simple and easy approach for the one-step synthesis of Fe₃O₄-chitosan composite particles with tadpole-like shape. The length and diameter of the particles were adjustable from 638.3 μm to ca. 798 μm (length), and from 290 μm to 412 μm (diameter) by varying the flow rate of the dispersed phase. Mitoxantrone was used as the model drug in the drug release study. The encapsulation rate of the drug was 71% for chitosan particles, and 69% for magnetic iron oxide-chitosan particles, respectively. The iron oxide-chitosan composite particles had a faster release rate (up to 41.6% at the third hour) than the chitosan particles (about 24.6%). These iron oxide-chitosan composite particles are potentially useful for biomedical applications, such as magnetic responsive drug carriers, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) enhancers, in the future.