Synthesis of iron oxide-gadolinium oxide nanocomposite produced by pulse laser ablation in carboxy methylcellulose as a contrast agent of magnetic resonance imaging

The synthesis of iron oxide-gadolinium oxide nanocomposite has been successfully made using the pulse laser ablation method in carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) liquid medium. Experimentally, a pulsed Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm, 7 ns, 90 mJ) was directed and focused on high-purity Fe and Gd metal plates submerged in the CMC liquid medium to produce nanocomposite of iron oxide and gadolinium oxide. Based on the results, the produced iron oxide and gadolinium oxide nanoparticles (NPs) were spherical in shape, having a diameter of 10 nm and 8 nm, respectively. The nanoparticles were then applied as an in vitro contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). From the T₁-weighted image, it was observed that pure colloidal gadolinium oxide NPs have the brightest color compared to the iron oxide NPs and iron oxide-gadolinium oxide nanocomposite, which means that the pure colloidal gadolinium oxide NPs have the highest contrast enhancement as the positive contrast agent compared to others.