S. Manjura Hoque

Synthesis and characterization of Fe- and Co-based ferrite nanoparticles and study of the T-1 and T-2 relaxivity of chitosan-coated particles

In pursuit of newer and more effective contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging, we report in this article the use of biocompatible chitosan-coated ferrite nanoparticles of different kinds with a view to determine their potential applications as the contrast agents in the field of nuclear magnetic resonance. The single-phase ferrite particles were synthesized by chemical co-precipitation (CoFe2O4 and Fe3O4) and by applying ultrasonic vibration (CoFe2O4 and Co0.8Zn0.2Fe2O4). Although magnetic anisotropy of CoFe2O4 nanoparticle leads to finite coercivity even for nanoensembles, it has been reduced significantly to a minimum level by applying ultrasonic vibration. Fe3O4 synthesized by chemical co-precipitation yielded particles which already possess negligible coercivity and remanence. Substitution of Co by Zn in CoFe2O4 increases the magnetization significantly with a small increase in coercivity and remanence. Particles synthesized by the application of ultrasonic vibration leads to the higher values of T2 relaxivities than by chemical coprecipitation. We report that the T2 relaxivities of these particles are of two orders of magnitude higher than corresponding T1 relaxivities. Thus, these particles are evidently suitable as contrast agent for T2 weighted MR images.

Superparamagnetic behaviour and T 1, T 2 relaxivity of ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles for magnetic resonance imaging

In the present study, ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles were synthesized by the chemical co-precipitation followed by calcinations at 473 and 673 K for 4 h. Particle sizes obtained were 4 and 6 nm for the calcination temperatures of 473 and 673 K, respectively. To study the origin of system’s low temperature spin dynamic behaviour, temperature dependence of susceptibility was investigated as a function of particle size and frequency. Slight increase in the grain size from 4 nm at 473 K to 6 nm at 673 K has led to a peak shift of temperature dependence of susceptibility measured at a constant frequency of 400 Hz. Temperature dependence of at different frequencies also resulted in peak shift. Relaxation time dependence of peak temperature obeys a power law, which provides the fitting parameters within the range of superparamagnetic nature of the particles. Further, dependence of relaxation time and peak temperature obeys Vogel–Fulcher law rather than Néel–Brown equation demonstrating that the particles follow the behaviour of superparamagnetism of slightly interacting system. Spin–lattice, T 1 and spin–spin, T 2 relaxivity of proton of the water molecule in the presence of chitosan-coated superparamagnetic ZnFe2O4 nanoparticle yields the values of 0.002 and 0.360 s−1 per ppm.