Nanomaterials (Feb 2023)

<sup>1</sup>H-NMR Relaxation of Ferrite Core-Shell Nanoparticles: Evaluation of the Coating Effect

  • Francesca Brero,
  • Paolo Arosio,
  • Martin Albino,
  • Davide Cicolari,
  • Margherita Porru,
  • Martina Basini,
  • Manuel Mariani,
  • Claudia Innocenti,
  • Claudio Sangregorio,
  • Francesco Orsini,
  • Alessandro Lascialfari

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13050804
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 5
p. 804

Abstract

Read online

We investigated the effect of different organic coatings on the 1H-NMR relaxation properties of ultra-small iron-oxide-based magnetic nanoparticles. The first set of nanoparticles, with a magnetic core diameter ds1 = 4.4 ± 0.7 nm, was coated with polyacrylic acid (PAA) and dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA), while the second set, ds2 = 8.9 ± 0.9 nm, was coated with aminopropylphosphonic acid (APPA) and DMSA. At fixed core diameters but different coatings, magnetization measurements revealed a similar behavior as a function of temperature and field. On the other hand, the 1H-NMR longitudinal r1 nuclear relaxivity in the frequency range ν = 10 kHz ÷ 300 MHz displayed, for the smallest particles (diameter ds1), an intensity and a frequency behavior dependent on the kind of coating, thus indicating different electronic spin dynamics. Conversely, no differences were found in the r1 relaxivity of the biggest particles (ds2) when the coating was changed. It is concluded that, when the surface to volume ratio, i.e., the surface to bulk spins ratio, increases (smallest nanoparticles), the spin dynamics change significantly, possibly due to the contribution of surface spin dynamics/topology.

Keywords