Aim: The primary goal of this work was to synthesize low-cost superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) with the aid of coconut water and evaluate the ability of macrophages to internalize them. Our motivation was to determine potential therapeutic applications in drug-delivery systems associated with magnetic hyperthermia. Materials & methods: We used the following characterization techniques: x-ray and electron diffractions, electron microscopy, spectrometry and magnetometry. Results: The synthesized SPIONs, roughly 4 nm in diameter, were internalized by macrophages, likely via endocytic/phagocytic pathways. They were randomly distributed throughout the cytoplasm and mainly located in membrane-bound compartments. Conclusion: Nanoparticles presented an elevated intrinsic loss power value and were not cytotoxic to mammalian cells. Thus, we suggest that low-cost SPIONs have great therapeutic potential.

A direct formalism for the solution of the diffraction pattern from the faulted layer crystal is derived. The proposed method is not specific for any crystal structure. The solution avoids the need for specific planar faulting models and has a direct physical meaning. The correlation distribution function between lateral displaced layers can be directly obtained from the diffracted intensities. The solution was compared successfully to a Monte Carlo trial and error method for the fcc structure. The developed formalism was used to determine the layer-layer correlation distribution function of the Gd 2 Co 17 faulted layer structure.

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The practical aspects of a recently deduced formalism for the direct solution of the powder diffraction pattern of a layer crystal are addressed. It is shown that the obtained solution is particularly well suited to combination with a deconvolution procedure based on a series development of the peak pro®le. The in¯uence of noise and step size on the obtained solution is discussed. Computer simulation is used to assess the robustness of the proposed procedure. The developed procedure is applied to a powder sample of Y 2 Co 17 that is affected by planar disorder.