Graphene nanocomposite material has potential MRI applications

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an extremely useful non-invasive imaging method. Though reduced graphene oxide (r-GO) has been used as a contrast agent for other imaging techniques, it has not been tested for use in MRIs due to its paramagnetic properties. Iron oxide (Fe₂O₃) nanoparticles are also considered unsuitable for MRI applications due to their decay in magnetic signal intensity during measurement. Idisi et al. synthesized and tested nanocomposite r-GO-ATA-Fe₂O₃ for its potential as a contrast agent in MRI applications.

They synthesized the nanocomposite by combining an aqueous mixture of GO with an ATA-Fe₂O₃ mixture, which in turn was prepared using the chemical co-precipitation technique with ATA as the capping agent. The entire mixture was stirred, heated and cooled to create a uniform dispersion of particles before being dried and collected as a nanocomposite.

The researchers measured a variety of physical properties of the nanocomposite including its surface morphological structures, electrical conductivity and magnetic behavior. They found that the nanocomposite reduces the graphitic structure of r-GO and improves the magnetic signal intensity of Fe₂O₃. They also observed low coercivity in the nanocomposite, making it a good candidate for MRI applications.

By combining r-GO and Fe₂O₃, the researchers were able to create a new nanocomposite that may be used as a contrast agent for MRI applications. In addition to the discovery of this specific material, this research may help the search for future functional nanocomposites in biological and biomedical fields.

Source: “Tuning of electronic and magnetic properties of multifunctional r-GO-ATA-Fe₂O₃-composites for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent,” by David O. Idisi, J. A. Oke, Sweety Sarma, S. J. Moloi, Sekhar C. Ray, W. F. Pong, and André M. Strydom, Journal of Applied Physics (2019). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5099892 .