Hollow mesoporous Ia3d silica nanospheres with singleunit-cell-thick shell: Spontaneous formation and drug delivery application

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) are promising for drug delivery and other biomedical applications owing to their excellent chemical stability and biocompatibility. For these applications, a hollow morphology with thin shell and open mesopores is preferred for MSNs in order to maximize the loading capacity of drugs. Herein we report a novel and direct synthesis of such an ideal drug delivery system in a dilute and alkaline solution of benzylcetyldimethylammonium chloride and diethylene glycol hexadecyl ether. The mixed surfactants can guide the formation of MSNs with cubic Ia3d mesostructure, and at a concentration of sodium hydroxide between 9.8 and 13.5 mM, hollow MSNs with uniform sizes of 90-120 nm and a single-unit-cell-thick shell are formed. A mechanism for the formation of the hollow Ia3d MSNs, designated as MMT-2, is proposed based on in situ small-angle X-ray scattering measurements and other analyses. MMT-2 exhibits much higher loading capacity of ibuprofen and degrades faster in simulated body fluid and phosphate buffered saline than non-hollow MSNs. The degradation of MMT-2 can be significantly retarded by modification with polyethylene glycol. More interestingly, the degradation of MMT-2 involves fragmentation instead of void formation, a phenomenon beneficial for their elimination. The results demonstrate the uniqueness of the hollow Ia3d MSNs and the great potential of the material for drug delivery and biomedical applications.