Superparamagnetic nanoarchitectures: Multimodal functionalities and applications

After careful synthesis and surface engineering, superparamagnetic nanoarchitectures display tunable properties and multimodal functionalities for applications in diverse fields such as biomedical, environment, energy, and mechanical. This article presents the state-of-the-art review of superparamagnetic nanoarchitectures in a comprehensive and systematic manner. [Display omitted] •Superparamagnetic nanoarchitectures have been reviewed.•The tunability and multimodal functionalities are explained.•Applications in diverse fields are presented. Despite bulk magnetic materials possess multidomain structure, single domain magnetic crystals can be obtained at the nanoscale, which display superparamagnetic behavior with strong magnetization under the influence of external magnetic field and zero magnetic remanence and coercivity after the field is removed. Physical, chemical, and biological properties of superparamagnetic nanoparticles (SPMNPs) can be manipulated by applying a remote magnetic field together with the construction of nanoarchitecture through attaching a variety of chemical/biological molecules on the nanoparticles’ surface. Such manipulations provide versatile nanoplatforms with exciting tunable characteristics and multimodal functionalities for numerous applications in diverse fields. In the literature, there have been excellent review articles focusing on various aspects of SPMNPs. However, a review compiling and analyzing the multimodal functionalities and broad spectrum of applications of SPMNPs together in one literature has been missing. The present article reviews the exciting capabilities of SPMNPs and their applications in a systematic and comprehensive manner. It provides valuable insights into the tunable characteristics and multimodal functionalities of SPMNPs for a broad spectrum of applications in biomedical, environment, energy, and mechanical fields.