The heat produced by magnetic nanoparticles,
when they are submitted
to a time-varying magnetic field, has been used in many auspicious
biotechnological applications. In the search for better performance
in terms of the specific power absorption (SPA) index, researchers
have studied the influence of the chemical composition, size and dispersion,
shape, and exchange stiffness in morphochemical structures. Monodisperse
assemblies of magnetic nanoparticles have been produced using elaborate
synthetic procedures, where the product is generally dispersed in
organic solvents. However, the colloidal stability of these rough
dispersions has not received much attention in these studies, hampering
experimental determination of the SPA. To investigate the influence
of colloidal stability on the heating response of ferrofluids, we
produced bimagnetic core@shell NPs chemically composed of a ZnMn mixed
ferrite core covered by a maghemite shell. Aqueous ferrofluids were
prepared with these samples using the electric double layer (EDL)
as a strategy to maintain colloidal stability. By starting from a
proper sample, ultrastable concentrated ferrofluids were achieved
by both tuning the ion/counterion ratio and controlling the water
content. As the colloidal stability mainly depends on the ion configuration
on the surface of the magnetic nanoparticles, different levels of
nanoparticle clustering are achieved by changing the ionic force and
pH of the medium. Thus, the samples were submitted to two procedures
of EDL destabilization, which involved dilution with an alkaline solution
and a neutral pH viscous medium. The SPA results of all prepared ferrofluid
samples show a reduction of up to half the efficiency of the standard
sample when the ferrofluids are in a neutral pH or concentrated regime.
Such results are explained in terms of magnetic dipolar interactions.
Our results point to the importance of ferrofluid colloidal stability
in a more reliable experimental determination of the NP heat generation
performance.