Synthesis, characterization and potential application of MnZn ferrite and MnZn ferrite @ Au nanoparticles

The ability to tune the magnetic properties of magnetic nanoparticles by manipulating the composition or surface properties of the nanoparticles is important for exploiting the application of the nanomaterials. This report describes preliminary findings of an investigation of the viability of synthesizing MnZn ferrite and core @ shell MnZn ferrite @ Au nanoparticles as potentially magnetization-tunable nanomaterials. The synthesis of the core-shell magnetic nanoparticles involved a simple combination of seed formation of the MnZn ferrite magnetic nanoparticles and surface coating of the seeds with gold shells. Water-soluble MnZn ferrite nanoparticles of 20-40 nm diameters and MnZn ferrite @ Au nanoparticles of 30-60 nm have been obtained. The MnZn ferrite @ Au nanoparticles have been demonstrated to be viable in magnetic separation of nanoparticles via interparticle antibody-specific binding reactivity between antibodies on the gold shells of the core-shell magnetic particles and proteins on gold nanoparticles. These findings have significant implications to the design of the core @ shell magnetic nanomaterials with core composition tuned magnetization for bioassay application.