Supraferromagnetic correlations in clusters of magnetic nanoflowers

Abstract

Magnetic nanoflowers are densely packed aggregates of superferromagnetically coupled iron oxide nanocrystallites, which excel during magnetic hyperthermia experiments. Here, we investigate the nature of the moment coupling within a powder of such nanoflowers using spin-resolved small-angle neutron scattering. Within the powder, the nanoparticles are agglomerated to clusters, and we can show that the moments of neighboring nanoflowers tend to align parallel to each other. Thus, the whole system resembles a hierarchical magnetic nanostructure consisting of three distinct levels, i.e., (i) the ferrimagnetic nanocrystallites as building blocks, (ii) the superferromagnetic nanoflowers, and (iii) the supraferromagnetic clusters of nanoflowers. We surmise that such a supraferromagnetic coupling explains the enhanced magnetic hyperthermia performance in the case of interacting nanoflowers.