EXAFS-Based Nanothermometry of Inductively Heated Nanocrystals

The ability to heat nanocrystalline materials through magnetic induction has been used in the fields of catalysis, biomedical sciences, and polymer degradation. However, the working temperature to which the inductively coupled material rises is still poorly understood. We use extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (EXAFS) in conjunction with thermal imaging to improve the understanding of heating in inductively coupled systems. After extraction of the Debye–Waller factor from the spectroscopy, we obtain the temperature of inductively heated nanocrystals from the correlated Debye model. We combine carbon-supported iron oxide nanocrystals as induction heating agents with platinum nanocrystals as thermal probes. By testing these nanocrystal species as both unattached nanocrystals and heterodimers, we have shown that nanostructured systems show a significant temperature difference of up to 73.60 °C when compared to their local support environment. This result has implications for inductively heated catalysis, magnetic hyperthermia for targeted cell death, and polymer synthesis.