Magnetic nanoparticles have been integrated with intelligent hydrogel systems, (eg., temperature responsive, pH responsive, and molecularly imprinted systems) to form composites expected to have wide applicability in various biomedical applications. These systems particularly show great promise as active components of micro- and nanoscale devices.

For example, different hydrogel systems were synthesized by surface-initiated polymerization of N-isopropyl acrylamide (NIPAAm) with varying crosslinking densities and lengths based on ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA), tetraethylene glycol dimethacrylate, and polyethylene glycol 400 dimethacrylate (PEG400DMA) on core iron oxide nanoparticles. The thickness of these core-shell hydrogel systems were characterized using a laser scattering particle analyzer and scanning electron microscopy