The adsorption process of 5-Fluorouracil (5FU) drugs on Aluminum nitride nanotubes surface (AlNNTs) have been evaluated through density functional theory (DFT). The DFT results show that the interaction of AlNNTs with the F atoms of 5FU drugs is strong due to the fact that the amount of adsorption energy was about − 29.65 kcal.mol−1. Conversely, the interaction of the 5FU through O atoms with the AlNNTs was weaker due to the lower value of adsorption energy. Also, based on the values of Gibbs free energy, the 5FU adsorption on the surfaces of AlNNTs was spontaneous. In addition, based on natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis, the direction of charge transfer was from fluorine’s σ orbitals of the drug to nitrogen’s and aluminum’s n* orbitals of AlNNTs with a considerable amount of transferred energy. Based on the obtained results, 5FU drug’s tendency toward interaction with AlNNTs is favorable. During the adsorption of 5FU drug onto the AlNNTs, a significant changed in the electrical band gap (Eg) were seen, resulting in increased electrical conductance. The current research is devoted to investigating the potentials of AlNNTs for 5FU anticancer drugs delivery in a bio-based environment.
