  Magnetic nanoparticles are promising systems for biomedical applications and
in particular for Magnetic Fluid Hyperthermia, a promising therapy that
utilizes the heat released by such systems to damage tumor cells. We present an
experimental study of the physical properties that influences the capability of
heat release, i.e. the Specific Loss Power, SLP, of three biocompatible
ferrofluid samples having a magnetic core of maghemite with different core
diameter d= 10.2, 14.6 and 19.7 nm. The SLP was measured as a function of
frequency f and intensity of the applied alternating magnetic field H, and it
turned out to depend on the core diameter, as expected. The results allowed us
to highlight experimentally that the physical mechanism responsible for the
heating is size-dependent and to establish, at applied constant frequency, the
phenomenological functional relationship SLP=cH^x, with 2<x<3 for all samples.
The x-value depends on sample size and field frequency/ intensity, here chosen
in the typical range of operating magnetic hyperthermia devices. For the
smallest sample, the effective relaxation time Teff=19.5 ns obtained from SLP
data is in agreement with the value estimated from magnetization data, thus
confirming the validity of the Linear Response Theory model for this system at
properly chosen field intensity and frequency.
