Magnetic energy-based understanding the mechanism of magnetothermal anisotropy for macroscopically continuous film of assembled Fe3O4 nanoparticles

The magnetothermal effect in two-dimensional assemblies of magnetic nanoparticles has played an increasingly important role in many biomedical applications. However, determining the mechanism of magnetothermal conversion of the assembled magnetic nanoparticles remains challenging. Here, a macroscopically continuous film assembled of Fe3O4 nanoparticles was used as a model for investigation utilizing both simulation and experimentation. The magnetic energy simulated by micro-magnetics can explain the phenomenon in which the assembled film of Fe3O4 nanoparticles showed the magnetothermal anisotropy in the presence of an alternating magnetic field. Here, the magnetic interaction between nanoparticles is proposed to play an important role in this process. Furthermore, it was discovered that there is a common behaviour of magnetic moments for the macroscopically continuous nanogranular film and a bulk magnet, which can be exploited to manipulate the magnetothermal effect of nanomaterials.