The development of anticancer nanomedicine using semiconductor photocatalysts has received tremendous attention owing to their simultaneous therapeutic as well as diagnostic potential. Hence, such nanomaterials are considered promising theranostic agents. In the present study, the ZnO NPs doped with Ag/Er were fabricated hydrothermally. The ZnOAg NPs, ZnOEr NPs, and ZnOAgEr NPs exhibited absorption peaks at 366 nm, 369 nm, and 365 nm, respectively while the ZnO NPs showed a distinct absorption peak at 361 nm in the UV-visible absorption spectra. The particles were mostly rod-shaped, the average size being between 150 and 200 nm with visible structural deformities rising due to Ag/Er doping. The The elemental Zn, O, Ag, and Er in the ZnOAgEr NPs indicated successful doping of the silver and erbium in the ZnO NPs. The XRD pattern revealed specific peaks specific to a pure-phase wurtzite ZnO structure that showed alteration with Ag/Er doping. The synthesized particles exhibited remarkable anticancer activity where ZnOEr NPs inhibited MCF-7 cells up to 99.22±0.1% followed by ZnO NPs and ZnOAgEr NPs that inhibited up to 98.28±0.03% and 94.03±0.2%, respectively. Our study clearly rationalizes that the Ag/Er doping strategy can enhance the anticancer efficacy of pure ZnO NPs.
Srithongkul et al. (Wed,) studied this question.