In this study magnetic fluids were manufactured by the adsorption of chitosan (CS) and O-carboxymethyl chitosan (OCMCS) on Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles to be used as hyperthermic thermoseeds. Fe 3 O 4 particles were characterized by physico-chemical methods such as: thermogravimetry analysis (TGA), x-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectrum, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The SEM images and XRD patterns showed that the synthesized Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles were of single phase and spherical shape with 10–15 nm in diameter. The VSM measurements showed that Fe 3 O 4 particles were superparamagnetic with saturation magnetization of 70 emu  g −1. The adsorbed layers of CS and OCMCS on the magnetite surface (Fe 3 O 4/CS) and (Fe 3 O 4/OCMCS) were confirmed by FTIR, Raman spectra and SEM. In the ac magnetic field of 80 Oe and 236 kHz, the saturation heating temperatures of the sample Fe 3 O 4/CS and Fe 3 O 4/OCMCS were 100 and 98 °C, respectively. At the same concentration of Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles in suspension, the two magnetic fluids exhibited quite high heating capacity, with different behaviors of concentration dependence. The Fe 3 O 4/CS and Fe 3 O 4/OCMCS nanoparticles would serve as good thermoseeds for localized hyperthermia treatment of cancers.

In this paper we first summarize our recent research on fabrication and structure characterization of conjugates of Fe3O4 nanoparticles (MNPs) encapsulated by several organic materials such as oleic acid (OL), starch (ST), dextran (D), chitosan (CS), O-carboxymethyl chitosan (OCMCS) and the copolymer of poly(styrene-co-acrylic acid (St-co-AA)). The ferrofluids stability and toxicity were also considered. The magnetic inductive heating (MIH) curves were measured using a set up with an alternating (ac) magnetic field of strength of 40–100 Oe and frequency of 180–240 kHz. We then present new results dealing with attempting to apply the MNP/copolymer ferrofluid for treatment of Sarcoma 180 tumor. In vitro as well as ex vivo MIH experiments were carried out as preparation steps in order to estimate the proper conditions for the in vivo MIH experiment. As for the latter, we have successfully carried out the treatment of solid tumor of size around 6 × 6 mm inoculated on Swiss mice with use of a dose of 0.3–0.4 mg ml−1 ferrofluid injected subcutaneously into the tumor and field-irradiated for 30 min. Two groups of treated mice recovered in three weeks from MIH treatment three times during the first week. We finally show that curcumin loaded MNP-based conjugates showed themselves to be a potential agent for application as a bimodal contrast enhancer of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and fluorescence imaging. Additionally, in vitro and ex vivo studies by these two techniques evidenced that macrophage is capable of uptake and tends to carry the MNPs into a tumor.

This paper presents an overview of syntheses and applications of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) at the Institute of Materials Science, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology. Three families of oxide MNPs, magnetite, manganite and spinel ferrite materials, were prepared in various ways: coprecipitation, sol–gel and high energy mechanical milling. Basic properties of MNPs were characterized by Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) and Physical Properties Measurement Systems (PPMS). As for biomedical application, the aim was to design a novel multifunctional, nanosized magnetofluorescent water-dispersible Fe 3 O 4-curcumin conjugate, and its ability to label, target and treat tumor cells was described. The conjugate possesses a magnetic nano Fe 3 O 4 core, chitosan (CS) or Oleic acid (OL) as an outer shell and entrapped curcumin (Cur), serving the dual function of naturally autofluorescent dye as well as antitumor model drug. Fe 3 O 4-Cur conjugate exhibited a high loading cellular uptake with the help of a macrophage, which was clearly visualized dually by Fluorescence Microscope and Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope (LSCM), as well as by magnetization measurement (PPMS). A preliminary magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study also showed a clear contrast enhancement by using the conjugate. As for the environmental aspect, the use of magnetite MNPs for the removal of heavy toxic metals, such as Arsenic (As) and Lead (Pb), from contaminated water was studied.

Magnetically separable core/shell Fe3O4/ZnO heteronanostructures (MSCSFZ) were synthesized by a facile approach, and their application for enhanced solar photodegradation of RhB was studied.

We have studied systematically the effect of field cooling on the magnetic properties of continuous and porous IrMn/[Co/Pd] films. It is found that the coexistence of two ferromagnetic (FM) phases in the porous film, namely, hard-magnetic and soft-magnetic ones, with significantly different magnetic properties relates to the role of pore edges and modifies its magnetic and magnetoresistive properties. It is shown that annealing of the films with their subsequent cooling in an external magnetic field applied for aligning the magnetic moments in the antiferromagnetic (AFM) IrMn layer improves effectively the uniaxial perpendicular anisotropy of the [Co/Pd] layer and induces unidirectional anisotropy in its hard-magnetic regions, blocking simultaneously the soft-magnetic parts by pinning their magnetic moments along the film plane. Magnetoresistance of both continuous and porous films is found to be determined mainly by electron–magnon scattering, whereas the complex morphology of the porous film providing different orientations of exchange coupling at the AFM/FM interface in different film regions modifies significantly the spin-dependent electron transport. The revealed asymmetry of the field dependences of magnetoresistance is attributed both to unidirectional magnetic anisotropy of the FM layer and its splitting into magnetically nonequivalent regions in the porous films. The origin of the observed phenomenon is associated with a local influence on the orientation of AFM magnetic moments by an adjacent ferromagnet.

Alternating gradient force magnetometry and Brillouin light scattering (BLS) experiments were exploited to investigate the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) localized at the CoFeB–MgO interface, both in Ta/CoFeB/MgO heterostructures (bottom samples) and in the inverted ones MgO/CoFeB/Ta (top samples). Thermal treatment was found to induce a marked increase of the PMA with respect to the as grown state. Using linear spin wave theory, an analysis of the spin wave frequencies was performed which allowed to estimate the thickness dependence of the PMA in the single CoFeB film. Magnetic tunnel junctions with the Ta/CoFeB/MgO/CoFeB/Ta structure were also studied by BLS. The analysis of the experimental results, performed via the linear spin wave theory, revealed that there is an antiferromagnetic interlayer exchange coupling between the free and the fixed CoFeB layers which increases after the annealing procedure.

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