An Investigation of the Effects of Gadolinium Doping on the Specific Absorption Rate of Fe3O4 Nanoparticles

The use of colloidal suspensions of magnetic nanoparticles, or ferrofluids, in the hyperthermia treatment of cancer has gained considerable attention in medical and scientific communities. In this study, Fe _3-x Gd _x O ₄ (x=0 and x=0.5) nanoparticles were synthesized using a wet-chemical coprecipitation technique. The crystal structure and chemical content of the as-prepared samples were verified using x-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Subsequently, the nanoparticles were coated with a surfactant (dextran) and suspended in deionized, unfiltered water to create a ferrofluid. The specific absorption rates (SAR) of the two samples were measured using an induction heating setup, and the gadolinium-doped (x=0.5) sample was found to have the higher SAR.