Anchoring group effects of surface ligands on magnetic properties of Fe₃ O₄ nanoparticles: towards high performance MRI contrast agents.

Zeng, Jianfeng; Jing, Lihong; Hou, Yi; Jiao, Mingxia; Qiao, Ruirui; Jia, Qiaojuan; Liu, Chunyan; Fang, Fang et al. · Adv Mater · 2014

basic_science · Level V

Where this comes from

Abstract

The effect of the anchoring group of surface ligands on the magnetic properties, especially relaxometric properties, of PEGylated Fe₃ O₄ nanoparticles is investigated. Systematic experimental results together with in-depth theoretical analysis reveal that the ligand binding affinity can largely vary the saturation magnetization, whereas conjugated anchoring groups can remarkably enhance the transverse relaxivity, which highlights a novel approach for achieving high-performance MRI contrast agents.