Ni-Cu nanoparticles have been synthesized by reducing Ni and Cu from metal precursors using a sol–gel route followed by annealing at 300 °C for 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, and 10 h for controlled self-regulating magnetic hyperthermia applications. Particle morphology and crystal structure revealed spherical nanoparticles with a cubic structure and an average size of 50, 60, 53, 87, and 87 nm for as-made and annealed samples at 300 °C for 1, 3, 6, and 10 h, respectively. Moreover, hysteresis loops indicated ferromagnetic behavior with saturation magnetization (Ms) ranging from 13–20 emu/g at 300 K. Additionally, Zero-filed cooled and field cooled (ZFC-FC) curves revealed that each sample contains superparamagnetic nanoparticles with a blocking temperature (T_B) of 196–260 K. Their potential use for magnetic hyperthermia was tested under the therapeutic limits of an alternating magnetic field. The samples exhibited a heating rate ranging from 0.1 to 1.7 °C/min and a significant dissipated heating power measured as a specific absorption rate (SAR) of 6–80 W/g. The heating curves saturated after reaching the Curie temperature (Tc), ranging from 30–61 °C within the therapeutic temperature limit. An in vitro cytotoxicity test of these Ni-Cu samples in biological tissues was performed via exposing human breast cancer MDA-MB231 cells to a gradient of concentrations of the sample with 53 nm particles (annealed at 300 °C for 3 h) and reviewing their cytotoxic effects. For low concentrations, this sample showed no toxic effects to the cells, revealing its biocompatibility to be used in the future for in vitro/in vivo magnetic hyperthermia treatment of cancer.

The magnetic, structural and microstructural properties of sputtered Fe thin films and Fe\Fe–O bilayers were studied as a function of the Fe layer thickness, the type of the Fe oxide and the substrate used. Two different ways to prepare the oxide layers were used; postdeposition oxidation and reactive sputtering. Postdeposition oxidation produced films with mixed Fe–oxides (FeO, Fe₃O₄, Fe₂O₃); however reactive sputtering led to bilayers with controlled stoichiometry, Fe\FeO, Fe\Fe₃O₄, and Fe\FE₂O₃, respectively. The coercivity of both the Fe films and fE\Fe–O bilayers, deposited on substrates with or without Cr buffer layer, was found to increase with decreasing Fe film thickness. The coercivity of the samples deposited on a Ag buffer layer was much lower and did not change substantially with the Fe film thickness. The presence of the Fe–oxide layer led to a large increase of coercivity. This is attributed to the higher anisotropy of the oxide and to exchange coupling of Fe–oxide with the softer Fe layer.

In this study, Iron Oxide nanoparticle clusters have been synthesized utilizing individual Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles with different sizes as building blocks. The synthesis was accomplished by encapsulation of the individual Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles in an oil in water emulsion via hydrophobic interactions between cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and the nanoparticle’s surface aliphatic capping agents. It has been observed that the time, temperature and CTAB concentration were three crucial factors for controlling the size, shape and collective behavior of the clusters. Powder X-Ray Diffraction study shows that both individual Fe₃O₄ and the corresponded nanoparticle clusters have the Fe₃O₄ cubic spinel structure. Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) shows that the hydrodynamic diameter of cluster is in the range of 100 to 200 nm. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images illustrate that different sizes of clusters can be effectively synthesized by using different concentration of CTAB and the results are consistent with the DLS values. Magnetic measurements show that the saturation magnetization of clusters can be changed from 56.7 emu/g to 70.1 emu/g by just changing the size of primary individual nanoparticles from 7.1 nm to 11.5 nm. Also, the blocking temperatures for Fe₃O₄ clusters were increased to higher temperatures which confirms the stronger collective behavior in the case of larger nanoparticles. The magnetic hyperthermia behavior of the clusters has also been studied, and the data shows that the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) values are increased by both the clustering and the size of the primary nanoparticles.

Today, magnetic hyperthermia constitutes a complementary way to cancer treatment. This article reports a promising aspect of magnetic hyperthermia addressing superparamagnetic and highly Fe/Au core-shell nanoparticles. Those nanoparticles were prepared using a wet chemical approach at room temperature. We found that the as-synthesized core shells assembled with spherical morphology, including face-centered-cubic Fe cores coated and Au shells. The high-resolution transmission microscope images (HRTEM) revealed the formation of Fe/Au core/shell nanoparticles. The magnetic properties of the samples showed hysteresis loops with coercivity (HC) close to zero, revealing superparamagnetic-like behavior at room temperature. The saturation magnetization (MS) has the value of 165 emu/g for the as-synthesized sample with a Fe:Au ratio of 2:1. We also studied the feasibility of those core-shell particles for magnetic hyperthermia using different frequencies and different applied alternating magnetic fields. The Fe/Au core-shell nanoparticles achieved a specific absorption rate of 50 W/g under applied alternating magnetic field with amplitude 400 Oe and 304 kHz frequency. Based on our findings, the samples can be used as a promising candidate for magnetic hyperthermia for cancer therapy.