Inclusion of CoFe₂O₄ ultrafine nanoparticles in 7CB liquid crystal: effects on temperature-dependent magnetic properties and insights for expanding the application of LC systems in hyperthermia treatments

ABSTRACT

This work presents a comprehensive analysis of the magnetic properties of pristine and citric acid-coated cobalt ferrite ($\mathrm{CoF}{\mathrm{e}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_4$) nanoparticles (NPs) dispersed in the host nematic $4{ }^{\mathrm{\prime }}$-heptyl-4-biphenylcarbonnitrile (7CB) system. Our results shed light on the promising potential of combining liquid crystals (LC) with magnetic nanoparticles for cancer treatment. This opens up exciting avenues for further exploration and possible applications in the field of oncology. The study focuses on examining the magnetic behaviour of LC dispersed systems with two concentrations of magnetic nanoparticles (0.03 and 0.04 wt%). Notably, intriguing temperature-dependent magnetisation plots reveal a distinctive cusp, which can be attributed to the freezing phenomenon of the liquid crystal. This observation offers valuable insights into the system's magnetic properties and interactions, deepening our understanding of its behavior.

Graphical abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Liquid crystal
• hyperthermia
• superparamagnetism
• cobalt ferrite

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge CRF (IIT Delhi) for SQUID (MPMS 7XL), ICP-MS (Agilent 7900), FTIR (Nicolet IS50), HRTEM(FEI Tecnai TF20) and DSC (DSC2500) facility. SB acknowledges MHRD, India for fellowship through IIT Delhi. SB is also thankful to Prof. Neeraj Khare for his useful discussion.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).