Abstract
We report on a theoretical framework for magnetic hyperthermia where the amount of heat
generated by nanoparticles can be understood when both the physical and hydrodynamic size
distributions are known accurately. The model is validated by studying the magnetic, colloidal
and heating properties of magnetite/maghemite nanoparticles of different sizes dispersed in
solvents of varying viscosity. We show that heating arising due to susceptibility losses can be
neglected with hysteresis loss being the dominant mechanism. We show that it is crucial to
measure the specific absorption rate of samples only when embedded in a solid matrix to avoid
heating by stirring. However the data shows that distributions of both size and anisotropy must
be included in theoretical models.
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