Synthesis and characterization of hafnium oxide nanoparticles for bio-safety

In recent years, the perspective of applying hafnium oxide (HfO₂) has geared up in various field of medical science such as neutron detection, bioimplants, biosensors, radiotherapy etc., The present study is to synthesis HfO₂ nanoparticles, and check its cell viability for in vivo applications. Hafnium oxide nanoparticles of different sizes (8.79, 7.16, 6.78 nm) were synthesized by varying the intervals of stirring time (6 h, 8 h, 12 h) by precipitation method. XRD pattern and Raman spectroscopy revealed that this material crystallizes in a monoclinic structure. SEM images and TEM micrographs showed that the HfO₂ NPs were spherical in shape with an average particle size of below 10 nm. The EDAX spectrum showed that the synthesized nanoparticles were HfO₂. 3T3 fibroblast cell lines were chosen for cytotoxic study as it mimics the human cells. The aim of this study is to compare the toxicity of different sizes of HfO₂ nanoparticles on interaction with 3T3 fibroblast cell lines. From this study we could infer that smaller sized nanoparticles (6.78 and 7.17 nm) have 86% cell viability even at the concentration of 2500 g/mL.