Development of Ce³⁺/Nd³⁺- engineered TiO₂ Nanoplatforms with Optimized Cytotoxic and Antioxidant Properties Guided by Machine Learning-based Predictive Modeling
J. Environ. Nanotechnol., Volume 15, No 2 (June 2026) pp. 436-451
Abstract
Lanthanide-engineered TiO₂ nanostructures offer a promising strategy for tuning biological activity through controlled modification of their physicochemical properties. In this work, Ce³⁺-doped, Nd³⁺-doped, and Ce³⁺/Nd³⁺ co-doped TiO₂ nanoparticles were synthesized and evaluated to investigate the influence of dual-lanthanide incorporation on cytotoxic and antioxidant performance. The results demonstrated that Ce³⁺/Nd³⁺ co-doping effectively modulated the biological response of TiO₂ by reducing cytotoxicity while enhancing antioxidant activity compared with pristine TiO₂. Antioxidant assays revealed improved radical scavenging efficiency against DPPH, ABTS, and H₂O₂ radicals following lanthanide incorporation. To further establish structure–activity relationships, machine learning models were developed to predict cytotoxic behavior using physicochemical and experimental parameters. Among the evaluated models, Gradient Boosting achieved the highest predictive accuracy (R² = 0.8728, RMSE = 11.436), outperforming the other algorithms considered in this study. Feature importance analysis identified nanoparticle concentration as the dominant factor governing cytotoxic response, while structural and surface properties provided secondary contributions. Overall, the findings demonstrate that Ce³⁺/Nd³⁺ co-doping is an effective approach for tailoring the biological performance of TiO₂ nanoparticles, while machine learning-assisted analysis provides valuable insights for the rational optimization of lanthanide-modified nanomaterials for biomedical applications.
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