Nonlinear energy dissipation of magnetic nanoparticles in oscillating magnetic fields

Abstract

The heating of magnetic nanoparticle suspensions subjected to alternating magnetic fields enables a variety of emerging applications such as magnetic fluid hyperthermia and triggered drug release. Rosensweig (2002) [25] obtained a model for the heat dissipation rate of a collection of non-interacting particles. However, the assumptions made in this analysis make it rigorously valid only in the limit of small applied magnetic field amplitude and frequency (i.e., values of the Langevin parameter that are much less than unity and frequencies below the inverse relaxation time). In this contribution we approach the problem from an alternative point of view by solving the phenomenological magnetization relaxation equation exactly for the case of arbitrary magnetic field amplitude and frequency and by solving a more accurate magnetization relaxation equation numerically. We also use rotational Brownian dynamics simulations of non-interacting magnetic nanoparticles subjected to an alternating magnetic field to estimate the rate of energy dissipation and compare the results of the phenomenological theories to the particle-scale simulations. The results are summarized in terms of a normalized energy dissipation rate and show that Rosensweig's expression provides an upper bound on the energy dissipation rate achieved at high field frequency and amplitude. Estimates of the predicted dependence of energy dissipation rate, quantified as specific absorption rate (SAR), on magnetic field amplitude and frequency, and particle core and hydrodynamic diameter, are also given.