Morphological Evolution and Magnetic Property of Rare‐Earth‐Doped Hematite Nanoparticles: Promising Contrast Agents for T1‐Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging

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Abstract
A series of uniform rare‐earth‐doped hematite (α‐Fe2O3) nanoparticles are synthesized by a facile hydrothermal strategy. In a typical case of gadolinium (Gd)‐doped α‐Fe2O3, the morphology and chemical composition can be readily tailored by tuning the initial proportion of Gd3+/Fe3+ sources. As a result, the products are observed to be stretched into more elongated shapes with an increasing dopant ratio. As a benefit of such an elongated morphological feature and Gd3+ ions of larger effective magnetic moment than Fe3+, the doped product with the highest ratio of Gd3+ at 5.7% shows abnormal ferromagnetic features with a remnant magnetization of 0.605 emu g−1 and a coercivity value of 430 Oe at 4 K. Density of states calculations also reveal the increase of total magnetic moment induced by Gd3+ dopant in α‐Fe2O3 hosts, as well as possible change of magnetic arrangement. As‐synthesized Gd‐doped α‐Fe2O3 nanoparticles are probed as contrast agents for T1‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging, achieving a remarkable enhancement effect for both in vitro and in vivo tests.
Funding Information
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (51372279)
  • Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (13JJ1005)
  • Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (15H03534, 15K13296)

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