Electromagnetic Triggering with Microparticles for Application in Drug Delivery

Externally triggered drug delivery techniques can use ultrasound, electric fields, magnetic fields, and electromagnetic radiation for drug release. In this work, we propose an electromagnetically triggered drug delivery device that uses the heating effect of electromagnetic interaction with metallic microparticles to contract a thermosensitive hydrogel loaded with drug particles. The contraction of hydrogel leads to the expulsion of drug particles. The frequency of operation is 2.4 GHz and preliminary experiments are in line with the Multiphysics simulations for a rise in temperature of approximately 3 degrees C in 50 minutes at 140 mW.