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-xGd_xO₄ (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.