The particle is 50,000 times smaller than the diameter of a hair, it is made of cobalt and platinum and it has proven to be more effective than those currently used in computer memory, magnetic resonance exams and in treating tumours.
The particle’s size and the magnetic properties “multiply the efficiency in each mission”, the researchers said.
“We have managed to develop the smallest bi-metal nanoparticle ever, measuring less than two nanometres (a nanometre is a millionth of a millimetre), made using platinum and cobalt, that is only magnetised in the presence of an external magnetic field and with the peculiarity of being able to increase the magnetisation”, said Robert Pullar, one of the authors of the study conducted by a team of scientists from the departments of Physics and Materials and ceramics from the Aveiro University Institute of Materials.
The work was conducted by Aveiro University researchers Robert Pullar, David Tobaldi, João Amaral, João Labrincha and Mohamed Karmaoui, the latter of whom is now a researcher at Birmingham University.