Measurement of thermal properties of magnetic nanoparticles using infrared thermal microscopy

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are considered promising for biomedical applications such as hyperthermia treatment and disease diagnosis owing to their distinctive thermal properties. For these applications, it is essential to screen the temperature distribution in the targeted disease site. This study aimed to investigate and observe the thermal properties of a small amount of MNPs used as highly sensitive biomarkers for disease diagnosis by microthermography. Toward this end, we used polyacrylamide and agarose phantoms containing a small amount of MNPs (30 mg Fe−1). In phantoms, the increasing temperature was observed using lock-in thermography for a small amount of MNPs distributed around the lesion. This suggests that the proposed microthermography technique can be used for diagnosis and screening in the early stage of a disease.

► The thermal properties of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have been investigated.
► The results showed that the increasing temperature of a small amount of MNPs could be observed using lock-in thermography.
► The distributions of water and Fe3O4 can be detected in PDMS channel using infrared thermal microscopy.