Synthesis of magnetic hollow periodic mesoporous organosilica with enhanced cellulose tissue penetration behaviour

Commercially available barium ferrite BaFe(12)O(19) (BaFeO) nanoparticles with a size of similar to 100 nm have been successfully encapsulated inside the hollow periodic mesoporous organosilica (HPMO) host material, through a 2-step (coating and encapsulation) approach. The resultant magnetic HPMO (MHPMO) nanoparticles possess a relatively high saturated magnetization (25 emu g(-1)) and a high enzyme loading capacity (1.32 mg/mg). It is further demonstrated that MHPMO materials exhibited enhanced cellulose tissue penetration behaviour under applied external magnetic field, promising for delivery applications to plant cells.