Rare Earth Oxide Ternary Systems of Ce, Nd, Sm, La, Pr, and Si; Potential Use for Anticancer Drugs

Abstract

Rare earths play an important role in industrial applications as they are used to produce luminescent materials, binders, water-resistant glass, screens, and lasers, due to their outstanding optical, electrical, and magnetic properties. A variety of mixed lanthanide oxide nanoparticles have been synthesized for these applications. Some lanthanide oxide nanoparticles have also been studied for biomedical applications. Here we report the synthesis of the binary system of Ce2O3-SiO2-X doped with other rare earths (X = Nd, Sm, La, and Pr) using the Sol-gel method to form four ternary systems: Ce2O3-SiO2-La2O3, Ce2O3-SiO2-Pr2O3, Ce2O3-SiO2-Nd2O3, and Ce2O3-SiO2-Sm2O3. EDS and XRD provided information about the mixing of the studied lanthanides in the network of SiO2. SEM micrographs showed the presence of micro-sized particles, which are in the range of 2 to 20 µM. DSC and TGA were used to study thermal transitions and degradation temperatures of the Ce2O3-SiO2 and of the ternary systems. In addition, the cytotoxicity of the materials was evaluated with HCT-116 colorectal cancer cells. So far, the results provide evidence of the successful formation of the four rare earth ternary systems and provide information about their potential use as drugs for cancer therapy.