Pure Fe3O4 nanoparticles and Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) coated with carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) were successfully prepared by co-precipitating of FeCl2 4H(2)O and FeCl3 6H(2)O in the solutions containing ammonia at 80 degrees C for 3 h. Phase, morphology, particle-sized distribution, surface chemistry, and weight loss were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) including high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. In this research, CMC-coated Fe3O4 MNPs consisting of Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions with 543.3-mM(-1) s(-1) high relaxivity were detected and were able to be used for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) application with very good contrast for targeting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) without any further vectorization. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.