Nano Express
Carbon-coated iron oxide nanoparticles as contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging
Author affiliations
1 Department of Physics, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, 702-701, Republic of Korea
2 Department of Molecular Medicine and Diagnostic Radiology, Kyungpook University Hospital, Daegu, 700-422, Republic of Korea
3 Division of Science Education, Daegu University, Gyeongsan, 712-714, Republic of Korea
Citation and License
Nanoscale Research Letters 2012, 7:44 doi:10.1186/1556-276X-7-44
Published: 5 January 2012Abstract
Coprecipitated ferrite nanoparticles were coated with carbon using a hydrothermal method. From transmission electron microscope pictures, we could see that the coated iron oxide nanoparticles were spherical in shape with an average diameter of 90 nm. The strong bonding of carbon on the nanoparticle surfaces was checked by noting the C = O and C = C vibrations in Fourier transform infrared spectra. The spin-lattice relaxation process [T1] and spin-spin relaxation process [T2] relaxivities of hydrogen protons in the aqueous solution of coated nanoparticles were determined to be 1.139 (mM·s)-1 and 1.115 (mM·s)-1, respectively. These results showed that the carbon-coated iron oxide nanoparticles are applicable as both T1 and T2 contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging.
PACS: 81.05.y; 76.60.Es; 61.46; 75.50.k; 87.61.
