Functionalized mesoporous silica materials for controlled drug delivery

In the past decade, non-invasive and biocompatible mesoporous silica materials as efficient drug delivery systems have attracted special attention. Great progress in structure control and functionalization (magnetism and luminescence) design has been achieved for biotechnological and biomedical applications. This review highlights the most recent research progress on silica-based controlled drug delivery systems, including: (i) pure mesoporous silica sustained-release systems, (ii) magnetism and/or luminescence functionalized mesoporous silica systems which integrate targeting and tracking abilities of drug molecules, and (iii) stimuli-responsive controlled release systems which are able to respond to…