Spinel Nano ferrites: Synthesis and Some Biomedical Applications- A Comprehensive Review
Pristine and metal-substituted soft spinel ferrites have received great attention from interdisciplinary research organizations across various disciplines of science and technology throughout the last years due to their versatile applications in industrial, military, and biomedical fields. The Physical, chemical, electric, and magnetic properties of nanomagnetic spinel ferrite materials used in industrial and biomedical applications are strongly affected by their size and surface area which can be manipulated by a suitable synthesis method. Biomedical applications of soft spinel ferrites mainly depend on properties such as uniformity in their size, non-agglomeration, easily dispersable, easily coated, and nontoxicity to host cells but attract to the specific target tissue. The movement of these particles should be manipulated and managed by an external magnetic field. These characteristics allow them to be candidate materials to be used in various applications contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging, and targeted drug delivery to magnetic hyperthermia. The present systematic review article is centred on different synthesis methods of spinel ferrites, both top-down and bottom-up approaches. The synthesis methods discussed herein are Sol-gel auto-combustion, Co-precipitation, and Solid-state reaction methods. Various biomedical applications of spinel nano ferrites are discussed with a special emphasis on magnetic hyperthermia.