Study of Magnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Synthesis for Diagnosis-Therapeutic Applications

Owing to magnetic nanoparticles have the specific properties, they have been used in different sciences especially in medical applications. Therefore, the synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles is the most important topics. In this review paper, the investigation and comparison between different synthesis methods such as
co-precipitation, sol-gel, thermal decomposition, micro-emulsion and hydrothermal are studied and then magnetic nanoparticles as a diagnosis-therapeutic agent are introduced. The previous studies showed that the methods included thermal decomposition and hydrothermal are the most appropriate process to synthesis nanoparticles in small and uniform distribution sizes, while the co-precipitation is the easiest method in among the others. The general limitation of this process is difficulty in control of the exact particle sizes. However, in the micro-emulsion technique there is a more ability to control the size and morphology of the particles. In sol-gel method it is possible to synthesize magnetic nanoparticles in different phases after the post heat treatment process. It is important to note that magnetic nanoparticles have a high potential for drug delivery, cancer diagnosis and therapy as well as magnetic resonance imaging.