Hyperthermic effect of magnetic nanoparticles under electromagnetic field

Abstract

Magnetic nanoparticles have attracted increasingly attention due to their potential applications in many industrial fields, even extending their use in biomedical applications. In the latter contest the main features of magnetic nanoparticles are the possibility to be driven by external magnetic fields, the ability to pass through capillaries without occluding them and to absorb and convert electromagnetic radiation in to heat (Magnetic Fluid Hyperthermia). The main challenges of the current works on hyperthermia deal with the achievement of highly efficiency magnetic nanoparticles, the surface grafting with ligands able to facilitate their specific internalisation in tumour cells and the design of stealth nanocomposites able to circulate in the blood compartment for a long time. This article presents the synthesis of cobalt ferrite nanoparticles dispersed in diethylene glycol via the so called polyol strategy and the crystal size control through successive synthesis steps. Preliminary heat dissipation evaluations on the prepared samples were carried out and the question of how particles sizes affect their magnetic and hyperthermic properties was addressed as well. Furthermore we will present how surface chemistry can be modified in order to change the dispersity of the product without affecting magnetic and hyperthermic properties.

Keywords

• Cobalt ferrite
• Magnetic nanoparticles
• Hyperthermia
• Polyol synthesis