Physical limits of pure superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles for a local hyperthermia agent in nanomedicine

Magnetic and AC magnetically induced heating characteristics of Fe3O4 nanoparticles (IONs) with different mean diameters, d, systematically controlled from 4.2 to 22.5 nm were investigated to explore the physical relationship between magnetic phase and specific loss power (SLP) for hyperthermia agent applications. It was experimentally confirmed that the IONs had three magnetic phases and correspondingly different SLP characteristics depending on the particle sizes. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that pure superparamagnetic phase IONs (d < 9.8 nm) showed insufficient SLPs critically limiting for hyperthermia applications due to smaller AC hysteresis loss power (Néel relaxation loss power) originated from lower out-of-phase magnetic susceptibility.