INVESTIGATING THE HYDROPHILICITY OF ZINC OXIDE NANOPARTICLES USING XYLENE AND WATER FOR IBUPROFEN ADSORPTION

In this work, zinc oxide nanoparticle (ZoN) hydrophilicity was investigated using the sample dispersion method. ZoNs were created by a templating method, using gelatin as a natural template and block copolymer F127 as a synthetic template, and calcined at 550oC for 6 h. The resulting textural and structural characteristics of ZoNs were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The hydrophilic characteristics of the nanoparticles were examined using a mixture of water and xylene through the sample dispersion method. In this experiment, groups of ZoNs were dried for 24 h either at room temperature, at 100°C or at 150°C and were labelled as t-ZoN, 100-ZoN and 150-ZoN, respectively. Three samples of ZoNs were then poured into the xylene and water mixture. The motion time of ZoNs in each phase was visually monitored for later comparison. In the last step of the experiment, each ZoN sample was used as an ibuprofen (IBP) adsorbent. Results clearly show that the amount of adsorbed water in the t-ZoN samples was significantly lower than that of the 100-ZoN and 150-ZoN samples, which matched the IBP adsorption results. This information may aid in improving IBP adsorption in other drug delivery studies. © 2021. All Rights Reserved.