Magnetic nanoparticle ensembles with promising biophysical applications: An EPR study

Abstract

In this paper, we present the results of a study of the properties of silver and copper nanoparticle (NP) ensembles and Fe3O4:Gd:B composites, which are promising for their potential uses in biomedicine. Magnetic resonance is applied as the main method of analysis. The magnetic properties of the NPs are found to be highly sensitive to the nanoparticle size, which enables finding the size distributions of metal NPs, using magnetic measurements. The dependence of the magnetic properties of lyophilized ensembles of Ag and Cu NPs on the interaction with molecular oxygen is revealed. The composites magnetic system Fe3O4:Gd:B is a key component of a promising method for neutron-capture therapy. The magnetic properties of this system, which are the result of differences in the g-factors of its components, are described in detail. As a consequence, the dependence of the resulting g-factor on the ratio of the components is established.