Effect of surfactant, solvent and stirring rate on the synthesis of silica nanoparticles entrapped rifampicin

In this study, silica nanoparticles entrapped with rifampicin has successfully been synthesized by using micelles entrapment approach. The goal of this study is to investigate the effects of synthesis parameters; surfactant (Tween 80), solvent (water) and stirring rate on the particles size and distribution of silica nanoparticles entrapped rifampicin. The results showed that without surfactant, larger mean particles (176.4 nm to 207.70 nm) of silica nanoparticles were produced while uniform and smaller spherical particles sizes (42.37 nm -70.44 nm) were formed with the addition of surfactant. But, when the amount of surfactant increased from 3.0 g to 9.0 g, larger silica nanoparticles with uniform size and thinner walls were observed until critical micelle concentration (CMC) of surfactant equivalent to 11.0 g was reached. The effect of water content shows the particle size slightly increased from 55.92 nm to 56.99 nm when the water content was increased from 150 mL to 200 mL, and decreased rapidly from 56.99 nm to 18.55 nm as the amount of water was increased from 200 mL to 350 mL. Meanwhile, for the effect of stirring rate, the mean particles sizes were recorded in the range of 39.11 to 80.15 nm. The largest size was observed at the lowest stirring rate (120 rpm) and the smallest size was observed at the highest stirring rate (520 rpm). The significant effect of these synthesis parameters can be used in developing a rational basis in tuning the size of silica nanoparticles for drug delivery system.