Nanostructured materials Research groups

Nanoscale processed materials are the basis of a large number of devices with a variety of applications, such as Medicine, Electronics, Computer parts, Information storage, etc. BCMaterials develop activity in two main fields of Nanomaterials .

Magnetic Nano-Particles (MNP) have a diverse range of uses from magneto-rheological fluids, MRI contrast or hyperthermia in cancer therapy, to drug delivery. Such applications require the production of monodisperse nanoparticles with well-controlled size and composition, biocompatibility, adequate functionalization, etc., in order to obtain the desired properties. Regarding hyperthermia essays, there is also a need for designing and building equipment capable of producing high frequency and large amplitude RF magnetic fields, compatible with the legislation for the human body, accurate targeting of the MNPs into the neoplastic tissue, “in situ” visualizing of the MNPs, etc.

Research at BCM focusses on the following subjects:

• Synthesis of MNP, either Chemical (inverse micelle, sol-gel, etc.), or Biological, by magnetotactic bacteria.
• Structural and magnetic characterization of MNPs.
• Hyperthermia therapy studies for liver metastasis of colon-rectum cancer.

New and exciting properties appear in magnetic materials as dimensions are reduced to the nanometer range, where typical magnetic interaction length scale lies, such as domain wall width or exchange correlation length. For this reason, artificially patterned nanostructures (top-down) and self assembled nanoparticle arrays (bottom-up) based magnetic materials have an increasing interest, from both fundamental and applied viewpoints.

Research at BCM focuses on fabrication and characterization of the following magnetic nanostructures:

• Granular thin films composed of magnetic nanoparticles embedded in a metallic or insulating matrix.
• Magnetic multilayer systems.
• Patterned magnetic materials.