Magnetic nanoparticles

Magnetic nanoparticles are a class of nanoparticle that can be manipulated using magnetic fields. Such particles commonly consist of two components, a magnetic material, often iron, nickel and cobalt, and a chemical component that has functionality. While nanoparticles are smaller than 1 micrometer in diameter (typically 1–100 nanometers), the larger microbeads are 0.5–500 micrometer in diameter. Magnetic nanoparticle clusters that are composed of a number of individual magnetic nanoparticles are known as magnetic nanobeads with a diameter of 50–200 nanometers. Magnetic nanoparticle clusters are a basis for their further magnetic assembly into magnetic nanochains. The magnetic nanoparticles have been the focus of much research recently because they possess attractive properties which could see potential use in catalysis including nanomaterial-based catalysts, biomedicine and tissue specific targeting, magnetically tunable colloidal photonic crystals, microfluidics, magnetic resonance imaging, magnetic particle imaging, data storage, environmental remediation, nanofluids,, optical filters, defect sensor , magnetic cooling and cation sensors. Magnetic nanoparticles are a class of nanoparticle that can be manipulated using magnetic fields. Such particles commonly consist of two components, a magnetic material, often iron, nickel and cobalt, and a chemical component that has functionality. While nanoparticles are smaller than 1 micrometer in diameter (typically 1–100 nanometers), the larger microbeads are 0.5–500 micrometer in diameter. Magnetic nanoparticle clusters that are composed of a number of individual magnetic nanoparticles are known as magnetic nanobeads with a diameter of 50–200 nanometers. Magnetic nanoparticle clusters are a basis for their further magnetic assembly into magnetic nanochains. The magnetic nanoparticles have been the focus of much research recently because they possess attractive properties which could see potential use in catalysis including nanomaterial-based catalysts, biomedicine and tissue specific targeting, magnetically tunable colloidal photonic crystals, microfluidics, magnetic resonance imaging, magnetic particle imaging, data storage, environmental remediation, nanofluids,, optical filters, defect sensor , magnetic cooling and cation sensors. The physical and chemical properties of magnetic nanoparticles largely depend on the synthesis method and chemical structure. In most cases, the particles range from 1 to 100 nm in size and may display superparamagnetism. Ferrite nanoparticles or iron oxide nanoparticles (iron oxides in crystal structure of maghemite or magnetite) are the most explored magnetic nanoparticles up to date. Once the ferrite particles become smaller than 128 nm they become superparamagnetic which prevents self agglomeration since they exhibit their magnetic behavior only when an external magnetic field is applied. The magnetic moment of ferrite nanoparticles can be greatly increased by controlled clustering of a number of individual superparamagnetic nanoparticles into superparamagnetic nanoparticle clusters, namely magnetic nanobeads. With the external magnetic field switched off, the remanence falls back to zero. Just like non-magnetic oxide nanoparticles, the surface of ferrite nanoparticles is often modified by surfactants, silica, silicones or phosphoric acid derivatives to increase their stability in solution. The surface of a maghemite or magnetite magnetic nanoparticle is relatively inert and does not usually allow strong covalent bonds with functionalization molecules. However, the reactivity of the magnetic nanoparticles can be improved by coating a layer of silica onto their surface. The silica shell can be easily modified with various surface functional groups via covalent bonds between organo-silane molecules and silica shell. In addition, some fluorescent dye molecules can be covalently bonded to the functionalized silica shell. Ferrite nanoparticle clusters with narrow size distribution consisting of superparamagnetic oxide nanoparticles (~ 80 maghemite superparamagnetic nanoparticles per bead) coated with a silica shell have several advantages over metallic nanoparticles: Metallic nanoparticles may be beneficial for some technical applications due to their higher magnetic moment whereas oxides (maghemite, magnetite) would be beneficial for biomedical applications. This also implies that for the same moment, metallic nanoparticles can be made smaller than their oxide counterparts. On the other hand, metallic nanoparticles have the great disadvantage of being pyrophoric and reactive to oxidizing agents to various degrees. This makes their handling difficult and enables unwanted side reactions which makes them less appropriate for biomedical applications. Colloid formation for metallic particles is also much more challenging. The metallic core of magnetic nanoparticles may be passivated by gentle oxidation, surfactants, polymers and precious metals. In an oxygen environment, Co nanoparticles form an anti-ferromagnetic CoO layer on the surface of the Co nanoparticle. Recently, work has explored the synthesis and exchange bias effect in these Co core CoO shell nanoparticles with a gold outer shell.Nanoparticles with a magnetic core consisting either of elementary Iron or Cobalt with a nonreactive shell made of graphene have been synthesized recently. The advantages compared to ferrite or elemental nanoparticles are: Several methods exist for preparing magnetic nanoparticle. Co-precipitation is a facile and convenient way to synthesize iron oxides (either Fe3O4 or γ-Fe2O3) from aqueous Fe2+/Fe3+ salt solutions by the addition of a base under inertatmosphere at room temperature or at elevated temperature. The size, shape, and composition of the magnetic nanoparticles very much depends on the type of salts used (e.g.chlorides, sulfates, nitrates), the Fe2+/Fe3+ ratio, the reaction temperature, the pH value and ionic strength of the media, and the mixing rate with the base solution used to provoke the precipitation. The co-precipitation approach has been used extensively to produce ferrite nanoparticles of controlled sizes and magnetic properties. A variety of experimental arrangements have been reported to facilitate continuous and large–scale co–precipitation of magnetic particles by rapid mixing. Recently, the growth rate of the magnetic nanoparticles was measured in real-time during the precipitation of magnetite nanoparticles by an integrated AC magnetic susceptometer within the mixing zone of the reactants.