Anchoring group effects of surface ligands on magnetic properties of Fe₃ O₄ nanoparticles: towards high performance MRI contrast agents

The effect of the anchoring group of surface ligands on the magnetic properties, especially relaxometric properties, of PEGylated Fe₃ O₄ nanoparticles is investigated. Systematic experimental results together with in-depth theoretical analysis reveal that the ligand binding affinity can largely vary the saturation magnetization, whereas conjugated anchoring groups can remarkably enhance the transverse relaxivity, which highlights a novel approach for achieving high-performance MRI contrast agents.