Understanding magnetic hyperthermia performance within the "Brezovich criterion": beyond the uniaxial anisotropy description

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that intrinsic magnetocrystalline anisotropy significantly influences magnetic hyperthermia performance under low field conditions, challenging the common uniaxial anisotropy approximation and emphasizing the importance of particle shape and interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a computational model showing the critical role of magnetocrystalline anisotropy and particle shape in hyperthermia, beyond the uniaxial anisotropy assumption.

Findings

Magnetocrystalline anisotropy affects heat output at low fields.

Small deviations from spherical shape impact heating efficiency.

Interparticle interactions influence dissipated heat.

Abstract

Careful determination of the heating performance of magnetic nanoparticles under AC fields is critical for magnetic hyperthermia applications. However, most interpretations of experimental data are based on the uniaxial anisotropy approximation, which in first instance can be correlated with particle aspect ratio. This is to say, the intrinsic magnetocrystalline anisotropy is discarded, under the assumption that the shape contribution dominates. We show in this work that such premise, generally valid for large field amplitudes, does not hold for describing hyperthermia experiments carried out under small field values. Specifically, given its relevance for \textit{in vivo} applications, we focus our analysis on the so-called "Brezovich criterion", $H\cdot{f}=4.85\times{10^8}A/m\cdot{s}$. By means of a computational model, we show that the intrinsic magnetocrystalline anisotropy plays a critical role in defining the heat output, determining also the role of shape and aspect ratio of the particles on the SLP. Our results indicate that even small deviations from spherical shape have an important impact in optimizing the heating performance. The influence of interparticle interactions on the dissipated heat is also evaluated. Our results call therefore for an improvement in the theoretical models used to interpret magnetic hyperthermia performance.