Hybrid Interface Based on Carboxymethyl Cellulose/N-Doped Porous Reduced Graphene Oxide for On-Demand Electrochemical Release of Imatinib

The modern drug delivery research strives to utilize novel materials and fabrication technologies for the preparation of robust drug delivery systems to combat acute and chronic diseases. So, the development of a general platform for efficient on-demand delivery of a variety of drugs remains an unachieved task. In this work, we report novel hybrid electrochemical interface based on carboxymethyl cellulose/N-doped porous reduced graphene oxide (CMC–NG) for on-demand delivery of imatinib (IM). An efficient loading of IM, 78% at pH 7.0 and time 3 h was observed using a CMC–NG:IM weight ratio of 1 onto CMC–NG. It is found that CMC–NG makes stronger hydrogen binding than NG with IM due to the presence of oxygen functional groups of CMC. We showed that CMC–NG is an extremely efficient electrochemical platform and the addition of CMC to the NG matrix also increases the stability of the IM–CMC–NG interface and decreases the release rate of IM from IM–CMC–NG interface. Upon the application of +1.0 V, 89% of IM could be released in a time span of 2 h from the electrical interface into PBS (0.1 M) with pH 4.0. Also, the on-demand electrochemical release experiments showed that the release rate of IM from CMC–NG at of neutral and alkalin condition is slow, while a faster release rate in an acidic environment at pH 4.0 was observed. Thus, the CMC–NG could potentially acts as efficient on-demand electrochemical interface, which may be applied in drug delivery systems.