Abstract
Targeted drug delivery has become an increasingly popular field of research over the past decade as the desire for more discriminatory methods of treatment has risen. Photoacoustic-mediated drug delivery utilizing core-shell magnetoelectric nanocomposites has the potential to provide localized administration of medicine or even induce apoptosis via irreversible cellular electroporation. To design these systems, the suitability of specific materials must be assessed and quantified. This work reports on the photoacoustic properties found in ferromagnetic CoFe2O4 nanoparticles and magnetoelectric CoFe2O4-BaTiO3 nanocomposites, as well as the impact of core size on the photoacoustic spectra measured. The photoacoustic response of the core-shell nanocomposites was found to be significantly attenuated when compared to the pure CoFe2O4 nanoparticles. This indicates the ferroelectric BaTiO3 shell is absorbing a percentage of the generated acoustic waves, demonstrating the capability to implement these nanocomposites in a photoacoustic-mediated drug delivery system.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the Office of Naval Research for their funding of this work and its extension into 3D printing.