Iron Oxide Monocrystalline Nanoflowers for Highly Efficient Magnetic Hyperthermia

Abstract

Magnetic nanoparticles exhibit a high potential to selectively treat cancer by hyperthermia provided that high heating capacity can be reached. In this work, we report an efficient synthesis of novel structures of magnetic iron oxide. The particles, obtained by applying a modified "polyol" protocol, present a particular shape: they look constituted of smaller grains of approximately 11 nm, assembled in a flower-shaped structure. These nanoflowers, dispersed in water at physiological pH, present particularly interesting magnetic properties and a great capacity of heating. The value of the specific loss power (SLP) of these nanoflowers is 1 order of magnitude higher than the SLP reported for conventional 11 nm single-domain maghemite nanoparticles in the same condition of field exposure.