Magnetic nanoparticles have a significant impact on the development of basic sciences and nanomedical, electronic, optical, and biotech industries. The development of magnetic structures with size homogeneity, magnetization, and particle dispersibility due to high-quality process development can broaden their utilization for separation analysis, structural color optics using surface modification, and energy/catalysts. In addition, magnetic nanoparticles simultaneously exhibit two properties: magnetic and plasmon resonance, which can be self-assembled and can improve signal sensitivity through plasmon resonance. This paper reports typical examples of the synthesis and properties of various magnetic nanoparticles, especially magnetoplasmonic nanoparticles developed in our laboratory over the past decade, and their optical, electrochemical, energy/catalytic, and bio-applications. In addition, the future value of magnetoplasmonic nanoparticles can be reevaluated by comparing them with that reported in the literature.

Fe3O4/SiO2/YVO4:Eu3+ multifunctional nanoparticles are successfully synthesized by facile stepwise sol-gel processes. The multifunctional nanoparticles show a spherical shape with narrow size distribution (approximately 40 nm) and the phosphor shells are well crystallized. The Eu3+ shows strong photoluminescence (red emission at 619 nm, absorbance at 290 nm) due to an effective energy transfer from the vanadate group to Eu. Core-shell structured multifunctional nanoparticles have superparamagnetic properties at 300 K. Furthermore, the core-shell nanoparticles have a quick response time for the external magnetic field. These results suggest that the photoluminescence and magnetic properties could be easily tuned by either varying the number of coating processes or changing the phosphor elements. The nanoparticles may have potential applications for appropriate fields such as laser systems, optical amplifiers, security systems, and drug delivery materials.

We describe the preparation of superparamagnetic nanoclusters (SNCs) by fine-tuning of the seed Fe3O4 nanoparticle sizes to enhance and their T2 relaxivity can be increased by > 4-fold. Therefore, with 11 nm seed core and PVA coating, SNC-11 exhibit a higher T2 relaxivity than other cluster condition. So fabricating the cluster, seed size is the most important influence the T2 relaxivity. As well as, in vitro cellular imaging results demonstrated the strong potential of SNCs for clinical applications by targeting affinity. According to the experiments, with 11 nm seed core and PVA coating, SNC-11 exhibited the highest T2 relaxivity of 454 mM-1s-1 due to the strong seed size effect on their magnetic sensitivity, indicating superior magnetic resonance (MR) contrast efficiency. Further in vitro cellular imaging results demonstrated the strong potential of SNCs for clinical applications.

21세기를 선도할 기술로 전 세계적으로 각광을 받고 연구가 활발히 진행되고 있는 분야는 나노기술(W), 생명공학기술(BT), 정보통신기술(IT)이라고 할수 있다. 우리나라에서도 최근 이에 대한 연구 및 교육 지원 프로그램을 세워 법정부적으로 지원을 하고 있다. 특히 나노기술은 다른 분야와의 기술융합이 가장 활발하게 진행되고 있다. 이러한 분야들은 우리나라와 같이 부존자원이 매우 적은 나라로써는 세계열강과 경쟁하기 위한 새로운 돌파구로 활용될 수 있을 것