LEARNING OUTCOMES

This teaching will teach students how to design nanostructured magnetic materials (NMM) with tunable magnetic properties. Students will learn the main wet chemistry synthesis method of NMM focusing on magnetic nanoparticles. Then, by the correlation between crystalline structure, morphology and magnetic properties, the morpho-structural feature of the materials will be optimized for specific application (e.g. magnetic separation, drug delivery, magnetic hyperthermia, MRI).

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

A physical property depends on the size of an object if its size is comparable to a dimension relevant to that property. In magnetism typical sizes – as for example the dimension of magnetic domains or lengths of exchange coupling interaction - are in the nanometer range. For this reason, starting few decades ago, great attention has been directed towards nanostructured magnetic materials where constituent phase or grain structures are modulated on a length scale from 1 to 100 nm. In particular magnetic nanoparticles have generated much interest because of their application in high density data storage, ferrofluid technology, catalysts and biomedical application (e.g. magnetic separation, drug delivery, contrast enhanced MRI). This course will teach students how to design and synthetize nanostructured magnetic materials (NMM) with tunable magnetic properties. The materials will be then tested for specific applications (e.g. magnetic separation, drug delivery, magnetic hyperthermia, MRI) optimizing their magnetic properties. The skills acquired in the course have to be considered particularly suitable for the profile: Materials Scientist: Technology Specialist. Anyway, the introductory part related to basic magnetism concepts provides skills that are also suitable for the profile Materials Scientist: Research Specialist.

PREREQUISITES

Background in Mathematics, General Physics and general Chemistry is recommended 

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures (10 hours) Laboratory activity (30 hours). Classroom attendance is strongly recommended, and it is considered essential to perform experimental activity.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The detailed program will be also available on AULA WEB and it will be discussed with the students during lectures

After a brief introduction on the fundamental concept of magnetism, a synthetic description of the magnetism at the nanoscale (i.e. Supermagnetism) will be given. Then, the main synthesis method of Nanostructured Magnetic Materials will be described and, focusing on magnetic nanoparticles, the correlation between crystalline structure, morphology and magnetic properties relevant to specific applications (e.g. drug delivery, biosorption, magnetic hyperthermia) will be discussed. In this part students will learn how to design nanostructured magnetic materials with tunable properties for specific application. Then, students will synthetize by chemical method magnetic nanoparticles and they will characterize materials by morho-structural and physical point of view. Synthetized materials will be tested within original research project, for specific application (e.g. magnetic separation), working on the optimization of physical properties of materials for a specific application.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

S. Blundell, Magnetism in condensed matter. Oxford: Oxford Univesity Press, 2001.

L. Suber and D. Peddis, “Approaches to Synthesis and Characterization of Spherical and Anisometric Metal Oxide Magnetic Nanomaterials,” in Nanomaterials for life science, Wiley., vol. 4, C. S. S. R. Kumar, Ed. Weinheim: Wiley, 2010, p. 431475.

D. Peddis, P. E. Jönsson, S. Laureti, and G. Varvaro, Magnetic interactions: A tool to modify the magnetic properties of materials based on nanoparticles, vol. 6. 2014.

G. Muscas, N. Yaacoub, and D. Peddis, Novel Magnetic Nanostrucures Unique properties and applications. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier, 2019.