Synthesis and Characterization of Hollow Mesoporous Silica Spheres and Studying the Load and Release of Dexamethasone

Hollow mesoporous silica (HMS) spheres were synthesized using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and carbon nanospheres as a hard template through a hydrothermal procedure. The prepared HMS was characterized by UV-Vis, FT-IR, TG, XRD, BET and SEM measurements. HMS was functionalized using aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) and amino groups were linked on its surface. Synthesized mesoporous material consists of homogenous particles with a size about 500-600 nm. Channels on the shell have hexagonal arrangements. In comparison with MCM41 and SBA15, spherical HMS provides more volume for drug loading, for its hollow cores. Thereby, the ability of obtained mesoporous materials to load and release of dexamethasone as a drug was studied.