Magneto-mechanical action of multimodal field configurations on magnetic nanoparticle environments

The generation of mechanical forces via magnetic fields, the so called magneto-mechanical effect, is a powerful manipulation tool of magnetic nanoparticles inside variable environments. The combination of alternating, static or rotating magnetic field configurations with magnetic nanoparticles allows transformation of electromagnetic to mechanical energy. Such an option renders magnetic nanoparticles, useful in biomedical research, as it is possible to functionalize them to specifically bind to malignant cell membranes and incur cell damages by exerting magneto-mechanical stresses. In order to produce these multimodal fields, a novel magneto-mechanical device was designed, manufactured and thoroughly characterized in terms of field parameters and magnetic nanoparticle properties. It consists of a rotating turntable, on which different magnetic field configurations were established by orderly arrangements of commercial Nd-Fe-B permanent magnets. For each configuration, the field gradients and mechanical forces acting on different magnetic nanoparticles, in terms of size and material, were calculated numerically by using COMSOL 3.5a Multiphysics. Such a device may be further implemented, as a versatile magnetic force performer, on cellular environments, where the magnetic nanoparticles, following external magnetic field variations, may ignite cellular processes.