Assessing heating efficiencies of PVPylated divalent metal-doped MFe2O4 nanoparticles for magnetic hyperthermia

Abstract

Abstract There is an incessant demand to keep improving on the heating responses of polymeric magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) under magnetic excitation, particularly in their pursuit to be utilized for clinical hyperthermia applications. Herein, we report the fabrication of a panel of PVP-coated metal-doped MFe2O4 (M ≅ Co, Ni, Mn, Zn) MNPs prepared via the Ko-precipitation Hydrolytic Basic (KHB) methodology and assess their magnetic and self-heating abilities. The physiochemical, structural, morphological, compositional, and magnetic properties of the doped MNPs were fully characterized using various spectroscopic techniques mainly TEM, XRD, FTIR, and VSM. The obtained MNPs exhibited stabilized quasi-spherical sized particles (10–15 nm), well-crystallized cubic inverse spinel phases, high saturation magnetizations (26–81 emu/g) and ferromagnetic behavior. In response to alternating magnetic field (AMF), distinctive heating responses of these doped ferrite NPs were attained. Heating efficacies and specific absorption rate (SAR) values as functions of concentration, frequency, and amplitude were systematically investigated. The highest heating performance was observed for PVP-NiFe2O4 followed by PVP-CoFe2O4 and the least for PVP-Zn-doped and Mn-doped MNPs (SAR values Ni > Co > Zn > Mn). Finally, cytotoxicity assay was conducted on aqueous dispersions of the doped ferrite NPs, proving their biocompatibility and low toxicity. Our results strongly suggest that the PVPylated metal-doped ferrite NPs prepared here, particularly Ni- and Co-doped MNPs, are promising vehicles for potential combined magnetically-triggered biomedical hyperthermia applications.