Synthesis and Characterisation of Bismuth Oxide Nanoparticles using Hydrothermal Method: The Effect of Reactant Concentrations and application in radiotherapy

Abstract

High atomic number (Z) of bismuth oxide nanoparticles (Bi2O3 NPs) has more cell penetration and less adverse effects than conventional radiosensitisers. In this work, 60 nm and 90 nm of Bi2O3 NPs were successfully synthesised using the hydrothermal method by varying the bismuth nitrate, Bi(NO3)3 concentration. The properties of Bi2O3 NPs were characterised to determine the phase presence, crystallinity, morphology, elements presence and size of nanoparticles. The as-synthesised Bi2O3 NPs was in monoclinic Bi2O3 phase (ICDD 98-008-5622). As the Bi(NO3)3 concentration increased, the particle size of Bi2O3 NPs decreased due to less ions diffusion per nuclei. The morphology observation showed that Bi2O3 NPs were in rods form. The produced Bi2O3 NPs were subjected to cytotoxicity analysis and radiotherapy. Bi2O3 NPs did not induce cytotoxicity in breast cancer (mcf-7) cell lines at concentration from 0.05 µM. The radiotherapy performance of the as-prepared Bi2O3 NPs was obtained by calculating the sensitisation enhancement ratio (SER). The optimum result was found for 60 nm Bi2O3 NPs with SER of 3.45.