Magnetic nanoparticles: Properties and potential applications

Magnetic particles may be used to selectively attach and manipulate or transport targeted species to a desired location under the influence of an external magnetic field. By virtue of their size, magnetic nanoparticles are superparamagnetic, offering great potential in a variety of applications in their bare form or through coating with a surface coating and functional group chosen for a specific application. In this paper, and in order to illustrate this concept, three applications for the use of magnetic nanoparticles will be discussed, namely, in magnetic liquids for densimetric separation, in therapeutic and diagnostic testing, and in effluent processing and metal ion removal.