438 research outputs found
Applications of magnetic nanoparticles in biomedicine: the story so far
This Viewpoint relates to an article by Q A Pankhurst et al (2003 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 36 R167) and was published as part of a series of Viewpoints celebrating 50 of the most influential papers published in the Journal of Physics series, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary
A Mossbauer study of the spin-flop phase transition in some antiferromagnetic materials
The spin-flop phase transition has long been of interest to both
theoretical and experimental physicists, ever since it was first predicted
by Louis Neel in 1936. In this work spin-flop transitions in
the antiferromagnetic materials K
2
FeF
5
, Rb
2
FeF
5
and a-Fe
2
0
3
have been
57
studied by means of Fe MBssbauer spectroscopy.
Spectra of K2FeF5 and Rb2FeF5 single crystals were recorded at 4.2K
with external magnetic fields of up to 14T applied in different modes,
providing information on the effect of misalignment on the sharpness
or 'order' of the observed transition. Directing the applied field
parallel to the easy anisotropy axis resulted in a sharp 'first-order'
transition, while misaligning the field by ~30o produced a broadened
'second-order' transition.
Field-induced spin-flop transitions in a-Fe203 single crystal samples
were studied at low temperatures by applying fields of up to lOT
either parallel to or perpendicular to the easy anisotropy axis. The
observed transitions were found to be of first-order in the 'parallel'
case, and second-order in the 'perpendicular' case. The Morin transition,
a temperature driven spin-flop which occurs naturally in
a-Fe
2
0
3
at ~260K, was also studied and was found to be of first-order.
Comparison of the character of the observed transitions with the
predictions of several theoretical models of the spin-flop led to the
conclusion that the conventional mean-field theory of the transition
provides a good qualitative description of the phenomenon
Standardisation of magnetic nanoparticles in liquid suspension
Suspensions of magnetic nanoparticles offer diverse opportunities for technology innovation, spanning a large number of industry sectors from imaging and actuation based applications in biomedicine and biotechnology, through large-scale environmental remediation uses such as water purification, to engineering-based applications such as position-controlled lubricants and soaps. Continuous advances in their manufacture have produced an ever-growing range of products, each with their own unique properties. At the same time, the characterisation of magnetic nanoparticles is often complex, and expert knowledge is needed to correctly interpret the measurement data. In many cases, the stringent requirements of the end-user technologies dictate that magnetic nanoparticle products should be clearly defined, well characterised, consistent and safe; or to put it another wayâstandardised. The aims of this document are to outline the concepts and terminology necessary for discussion of magnetic nanoparticles, to examine the current state-of-the-art in characterisation methods necessary for the most prominent applications of magnetic nanoparticle suspensions, to suggest a possible structure for the future development of standardisation within the field, and to identify areas and topics which deserve to be the focus of future work items. We discuss potential roadmaps for the future standardisation of this developing industry, and the likely challenges to be encountered along the way
Theoretical and experimental characterisation of magnetic microbubbles.
In addition to improving image contrast, microbubbles have shown great potential in molecular imaging and drug/gene delivery. Previous work by the authors showed that considerable improvements in gene transfection efficiency were obtained using microbubbles loaded with magnetic nanoparticles under simultaneous exposure to ultrasound and magnetic fields. The aim of this study was to characterise the effect of nanoparticles on the dynamic and acoustic response of the microbubbles. High-speed video microscopy indicated that the amplitude of oscillation was very similar for magnetic and nonmagnetic microbubbles of the same size for the same ultrasound exposure (0.5 MHz, 100 kPa, 12-cycle pulse) and that this was minimally affected by an imposed magnetic field. The linear scattering to attenuation ratio (STAR) was also similar for suspensions of both bubble types although the nonlinear STAR was ~50% lower for the magnetic microbubbles. Both the video and acoustic data were supported by the results from theoretical modelling
Chemomagnetic Measurements of Electric Signals in Combustion Reactions of âMetal-Oxideâ
The affect of an external magnetic field of 0.2 T on the Self-propagating High-temperature Syntheses (SHS) of a mixture of first row transition metals (Fe, Co, Ni, Mn and Ti) and their oxides (Fe3O4, Co3O4, NiO, MnO and TiO2) with solid oxidizer (NaClO4) was studied for the first time with respect to the chemomagnetic signals generated of each system during the transformations in the combustion wave under different external conditions. Reactions were carried out in zero and an applied magnetic field of 0.2 T and effect of magnetic fields on the combustion wave propagation were also studied
Dynamic phase transition properties and hysteretic behavior of a ferrimagnetic core-shell nanoparticle in the presence of a time dependent magnetic field
We have presented dynamic phase transition features and stationary-state
behavior of a ferrimagnetic small nanoparticle system with a core-shell
structure. By means of detailed Monte Carlo simulations, a complete picture of
the phase diagrams and magnetization profiles have been presented and the
conditions for the occurrence of a compensation point in the system
have been investigated. According to N\'{e}el nomenclature, the magnetization
curves of the particle have been found to obey P-type, N-type and Q-type
classification schemes under certain conditions. Much effort has been devoted
to investigation of hysteretic response of the particle and we observed the
existence of triple hysteresis loop behavior which originates from the
existence of a weak ferromagnetic core coupling , as well as a
strong antiferromagnetic interface exchange interaction . Most
of the calculations have been performed for a particle in the presence of
oscillating fields of very high frequencies and high amplitudes in comparison
with exchange interactions which resembles a magnetic system under the
influence of ultrafast switching fields. Particular attention has also been
paid on the influence of the particle size on the thermal and magnetic
properties, as well as magnetic features such as coercivity, remanence and
compensation temperature of the particle. We have found that in the presence of
ultrafast switching fields, the particle may exhibit a dynamic phase transition
from paramagnetic to a dynamically ordered phase with increasing ferromagnetic
shell thickness.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure
Optimising magnetic sentinel lymph node biopsy in an in vivo porcine model
The magnetic technique for sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) has been evaluated in several clinical trials. An in vivo porcine model was developed to optimise the magnetic technique by evaluating the effect of differing volume, concentration and time of injection of magnetic tracer. A total of 60 sentinel node procedures were undertaken. There was a significant correlation between magnetometer counts and iron content of excised sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) (r = 0.82; P < 0.001). Total number of SLNs increased with increasing volumes of magnetic tracer (P < 0.001). Transcutaneous magnetometer counts increased with increasing time from injection of magnetic tracer (P < 0.0001), plateauing within 60 min. Increasing concentration resulted in higher iron content of SLNs (P = 0.006). Increasing magnetic tracer volume and injecting prior to surgery improve transcutaneous âhotspotâ identification but very high volumes, increase the number of nodes excised.
From the Clinical Editor
Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is the standard of care for axillary staging of breast cancer patients. Although the current gold standard technique is the combined injection of technetium-labelled nanocolloid and blue dye into the breast, the magnetic technique, using superparamagnetic carboxydextran-coated iron oxide (SPIO), has also been demonstrated as a feasible alternative. In this article, the authors set up to study factors in order to optimize the magnetic tracers.
Graphical abstract
Variable volumes and concentrations of a magnetic tracer were injected into the third inguinal mammary gland bilaterally in an in vivo porcine model (1) allowing the performance of magnetic sentinel lymph node biopsy of draining inguinal nodes (2). The harvested nodes were âdarkly stainedâ for iron uptake and âhotâ for magnetometer counts (3). The iron was deposited within the cortex and subcapsular space â visible as blue using PERLâs staining â on histopathology (4) and was quantified using quantitative magnetometry and a validated iron-grading scale
Size effects in the magnetic behaviour of TbAl_2 milled alloys
The study of the magnetic properties depending upon mechanical milling of the
ferromagnetic polycrystalline TbAl_2 material is reported. The Rietveld
analysis of the X-ray diffraction data reveals a decrease of the grain size
down to 14 nm and -0.15 % of variation of the lattice parameter, after 300
hours of milling time. Irreversibility in the zero field cooled - field cooled
(ZFC-FC) DC-susceptibility and clear peaks in the AC susceptibility between 5
and 300 K show that the long-range ferromagnetic structure is inhibited in
favour of a disordered spin arrangement below 45 K. This glassy behaviour is
also deduced from the variation of the irreversibility transition with the
field (H^{2/3}) and frequency. The magnetization process of the bulk TbAl_2 is
governed by domain wall thermal activation processes. By contrast, in the
milled samples, cluster-glass properties arise as a result of cooperative
interactions due to the substitutional disorder. The interactions are also
influenced by the nanograin structure of the milled alloys, showing a variation
of coercivity with the grain size, below the crossover between the multi- and
single-domain behaviours.Comment: 23 pages, 11 figures, to appear in J. Phys.: Condens. Ma
Combustion Reactions of Some âMetal-Oxideâ Systems under Conditions of Zero and Applied Magnetic Fields: Thermal Imaging Experiments
The effect of an external magnetic field of 0.2 T on the self-propagating high temperature syntheses (SHS) of a mixture of first row transition metals and their oxides was studied by using a very sensitive thermal imaging method involving an IR-camera and software developed by MIKRON Instrument Co., Inc. (M9100 Pyrovision Series â Imaging Pyrometer). For the basic conversion of first row transition metals to their corresponding oxide, there was no observable difference in propagation behavior between applied and zero field reactions. However the average wave velocity for the iron system showed a significantly greater value when the SHS was conducted under conditions of an applied field. This enabled accurate monitoring of the combustion process in particular propagation velocity, maximum temperature, cooling rates, synthesis wave width and pathway. Several interesting phenomena, such as hole formation in the pellet and combustion wave segmentation were detected in some systems
Thermosensitive polymer-grafted iron oxide nanoparticles studied by in situ dynamic light backscattering under magnetic hyperthermia
© 2015 IOP Publishing Ltd. Thermometry at the nanoscale is an emerging area fostered by intensive research on nanoparticles (NPs) that are capable of converting electromagnetic waves into heat. Recent results suggest that stationary gradients can be maintained between the surface of NPs and the bulk solvent, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as \u27cold hyperthermia\u27. However, the measurement of such highly localized temperatures is particularly challenging. We describe here a new approach to probing the temperature at the surface of iron oxide NPs and enhancing the understanding of this phenomenon. This approach involves the grafting of thermosensitive polymer chains to the NP surface followed by the measurement of macroscopic properties of the resulting NP suspension and comparison to a calibration curve built up by macroscopic heating. Superparamagnetic iron oxide NPs were prepared by the coprecipitation of ferrous and ferric salts and functionalized with amines, then azides using a sol-gel route followed by a dehydrative coupling reaction. Thermosensitive poly[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate] (PDMAEMA) with an alkyne end-group was synthesized by controlled radical polymerization and was grafted using a copper assisted azide-alkyne cycloaddition reaction. Measurement of the colloidal properties by dynamic light scattering (DLS) indicated that the thermosensitive NPs exhibited changes in their Zeta potential and hydrodynamic diameter as a function of pH and temperature due to the grafted PDMAEMA chains. These changes were accompanied by changes in the relaxivities of the NPs, suggesting application as thermosensitive contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In addition, a new fibre-based backscattering setup enabled positioning of the DLS remote-head as close as possible to the coil of a magnetic heating inductor to afford in situ probing of the backscattered light intensity, hydrodynamic diameter, and temperature. This approach provides a promising platform for estimating the response of magnetic NPs to application of a radiofrequency magnetic field or for understanding the behaviour of other thermogenic NPs
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