Magnetic nanomaterials such as the spinel-type oxides, MFe2O4 (M = Fe2+, Co2+, Ni2+, Zn2+) have emerged as key materials in nanomedicine, with highly tuneable properties, accessed by varying composition or surface modification with functional ligands. Their biomedical applications such as magnetic hyperthermia, an adjuvant to cancer therapies, require the nanoparticles to be water-dispersible, biocompatible, and possess sufficiently high magnetic saturation. As such, control of these properties is essential in the synthesis of these materials. While there are many examples in the literature of ways to obtain iron oxide nanoparticles, there is a happy medium between synthetic control and sustainability that has not yet been realised by any one technique in particular. The present work aims to provide a comparison of some of the most commonly employed synthetic techniques for producing nanoparticles for this application; assessing each method in terms of both synthetic control of material properties as well as compliance with green chemistry principles. In doing so, the promising capabilities of a new synthetic technique will be introduced — a novel, custom-built hydrothermal injection reactor — designed to combine the green sensibilities of traditional hydrothermal synthesis with the synthetic control of the popular hot injection and thermolysis methods. A variety of spinel ferrites have been targeted by each of these synthetic techniques, each characterised by powder X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, and magnetometry, before narrowing in on cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) – a hard ferromagnet which offers high chemical stability and good saturation magnetisation. It has been found that hydrothermal injection synthesis allows the formation of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles with size, monodispersity, surface capping, and magnetic properties comparable to those obtained by conventional thermolysis, but with the added green credentials of hydrothermal processing. Thus, this work will showcase a new sustainable route to magnetic nanoparticles with suitable properties for use in nanomedicine – bringing green chemistry to this rapidly expanding field.

Sustainability and quality: Hydrothermal injection synthesis of magnetic nanomaterials for medicine

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