Hard meets soft: tuning binary ferrofluids

Abstract

We study binary ferrofluids composed of multicore “nanoflowers” of magnetically hard CoFe₂O₄ and magnetically soft MnFe₂O₄, as a way to optimise heat dissipation while suppressing aggregation–properties essential for biomedical applications. Bulk magnetometry and molecular dynamics simulations were combined to elucidate their behaviour. Experiments show wasp-waisted hysteresis, composition-dependent coercivity, and strong protocol dependence (field cooling). Simulations reproduce these trends and reveal the underlying structure–property coupling: (i) in an applied magnetic field, CoFe₂O₄ forms chains that dominate collective switching; (ii) adding MnFe₂O₄ “poisons” these chains—shortening and de-branching clusters—thereby lowering coercivity and loop area relative to a weighted superposition of the individual component responses without interactions; (iii) dipolar coupling reciprocally hardens the magnetically soft phase and softens the magnetically hard phase even without large-scale aggregation; and (iv) at higher total volume fraction (ϕ = 0.1) magnetically soft particles still suppress chain growth, reducing mean cluster size by up to an order of magnitude while keeping heating-relevant hysteresis close to Stoner–Wohlfarth expectations. These results establish composition-controlled microstructure as a means to decouple thermal output from aggregation: CoFe₂O₄ : MnFe₂O₄ mixtures can be tuned to enhance loss mechanisms while mitigating aggregation, offering a route to binary ferrofluids optimized for magnetic hyperthermia and drug delivery.