New Trends in Nanoparticle Magnetism

Abstract

Magnetic nanoparticles continue to be the object of growing interest, from both fundamental and technological point of view, since the pioneering works of Louis Néel about 70 years ago. The reason is because nanoparticles are unique physical objects with remarkable magnetic properties which differ greatly from their massive materials. Such properties can be finely tuned trough control of the size, surface/interface structure, and nature and strength of interactions, allowing to design and synthesize a variety of magnetic nanostructures for a large number of applications. In the last decades, there has been significant progress in understanding the fundamental magnetization processes in magnetic nanoparticles thanks to contin- uous advances in theory, materials preparation methods, structural and diagnostic techniques. This book is aimed at providing an overview of new trends and challenging perspectives in the research on magnetic nanoparticles and their applications, highlighting emerging approaches in theoretical modeling, synthetic methodologies of new nanoparticle-based materials, fundamental issues and strategies to improve the magnetic properties, experimental techniques and frontier applications in strategic sectors. In particular, a special attention has been given to biomedicine, where magnetic nanoparticles hold great potential in medical diagnosis and therapy. The book is arranged in topical sections providing a spectrum of the latest advances and accomplishments in nanoparticle magnetism covering (a) fundamen- tal properties, by theoretical modeling, simulation and experimental investigations; (b) design and synthesis of new magnetic nanoarchitectures; (c) selected advanced structural and magnetic diagnostic techniques; (d) applications in selected strategic fields such as biomedicine, energy and life science.