Phase-tuned Fe3Ni soft ferromagnetic nanoalloys for stable and biocompatible magnetic hyperthermia
摘要
Magnetic nanoalloys offer an intriguing platform for the integration of adjustable magnetic and structural properties at the nanoscale. Although earlier studies on Fe based nanoparticles and Fe-Ni nanoalloys have primarily focused on structure dependent magnetic properties, the present work extends this correlation towards hyperthermia application in Fe3Ni alloys with varying size in the nano regime. We have synthesized Fe3Ni nanoalloy through hydrothermal technique followed by calcination at 550, 600 and 650 °C. The structural analysis through X-ray diffraction (XRD) exhibits a structural transformation from mixed face centered cubic (FCC) and body centered cubic (BCC) phase at former calcination temperatures to a single BCC phase at the highest calcination temperature (650 °C). High-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM) analysis shows agglomerated spherical particles with average size of ~ 35 nm indicating polycrystalline nature. Although a soft ferromagnetic behavior is observed irrespective of phase, a high saturation magnetization (Ms) is obtained in the BCC phase alloy. The hysteresis loops fitted using modified Langevin function demonstrates that the magnetic size obtained from the fitting matches well with the average crystallite size estimated from XRD linewidth. Further, the induction heating performance of the ferrofluid of the nanoalloy calcined at 600 °C at varying concentrations show that 10 mg/mL formulation steadily reaches the therapeutic hyperthermia temperature (~ 43 °C) under an alternating magnetic field (AMF) of 17 mT with a specific absorption rate (SAR) of 75.20 W g− 1. The cytocompatibility of the ferrofluids examined using MTT assay by implementing fibroblast 3T3 cells displays the optimized Fe3Ni nanoalloy ferrofluids in combination with good heating ability and favourable magnetic properties, recommending it as a suitable candidate for treating localized magnetic hyperthermia.