Self assembly and controlled drug release of a nano-laminated graphite carbon nitride/methotrexate complex.

In this study, g-C3N4/methotrexate (g-C3N4/MTX) nanohybrids were obtained via a self assembly method. XRD and TEM demonstrated that bulk g-C3N4 had been stripped into thin nanosheets with size range of 150-250 nm. FTIR investigation indicated that the self assembly of the hybrid was attributed to the hydrogen bond between g-C3N4 nanosheets and MTX molecules. It is confirmed by the UV-vis spectra that the hybrids can achieve a sustained drug release within long period for 70 h. Furthermore, the drug release mechanism was investigated by kinetic models and a first-order relationship was concluded, which indicated that the drug release is a simple diffusion process cohydroxyapatite/methotrexate complexntrolled by gradient drug concentration. Cell viability tests confirmed that g-C3N4 presented excellent biocompatibility and g-C3N4/MTX hybrids had obvious suppression efficiency on MG63 cells which showed a positive correlation to the drug concentration and incubation time.