Modeling and Characterization of Deformable Soft Magnetic Microrobot for Targeted Therapy

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are very attractive components in many biomedical applications, particularly as therapeutic magnetic microcarriers (TMMC) for targeted therapy. Although MNPs can be effectively gathered and transported using external magnetic fields, the optimal delivery is yet to be fully investigated. In this letter, we discuss the modeling and the characterization of deformable soft magnetic microrobots under various magnetic field conditions. The microrobots considered consist of superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) immersed in different carrier fluids, and the behavior of which has been characterized experimentally under weak magnetic fields. The experimental results clearly show that the observations properly follow the model prediction. Soft magnetic microrobots with controllable shape deformation have great potential for targeted drug delivery due to the adaptability of their characteristics to environmental conditions (e.g. vessel size, velocity, shear stress).