Nuclear magnetic resonance in hexaferrite/maghemite composite nanoparticles

Abstract

Due to their bio-compatibility and non-toxicity, ferrimagnetic iron oxides are suitable for various medical applications. In the case of hyperthermia, the promising approach how to reach desired magnetic properties is to combine more phases into a composite material. A series of samples containing maghemite and M-hexaferrite was prepared by sol-gel method with subsequent thermal treatment where annealing temperature and time were varied. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction. In this paper we focused mainly on application of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to investigate these strongly inhomogeneous nanoparticle composites. Frequencyswept 57Fe NMR spectra of nanoparticle samples were measured in a zero external magnetic field at 4.2 K. Utilizing differences in optimal excitation field strengths and in relaxation times, we were able to resolve NMR signal assigned to hexagonal ferrite of M-phase from signal which showed features attributed to maghemite.