Fabrication of uniform half-shell magnetic nanoparticles and microspheres with applications as magnetically modulated optical nanoprobes

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel fabrication method for uniform magnetic half-shell particles, specifically cobalt-coated polystyrene spheres, which serve as magnetically modulated optical nanoprobes with potential biomedical applications.

Contribution

A new ultrahigh vacuum vapor deposition technique to produce uniform cobalt half-shell magnetic nanoparticles and microspheres for optical nanoprobes.

Findings

Particles have uniform size, shape, and magnetic content.

Enhanced coercivity of cobalt on nanospheres compared to bulk cobalt.

Potential applications in magnetically modulated optical sensing.

Abstract

Magnetically Modulated Optical Nanoprobes (MagMOONs) are magnetic particles that indicate their angular orientation by emitting varying intensities of light for different orientations and have shown promise for a variety of applications. In this letter we describe a new method to fabricate uniform magnetic half-shell particles that can be used as MagMOONs. Cobalt was deposited onto commercially made polystyrene nanospheres and microspheres, using ultrahigh vacuum vapor deposition, producing particles with uniform size, shape and magnetic content. Additionally, the coercivity of the cobalt deposited on the nanospheres was enhanced compared to its bulk value.