Synthesis and characterization of polyaniline-Fe@C magnetic nanocomposite powder

We report the synthesis of novel magnetic nanocomposite based on polyaniline (PANI) matrix and Fe-C nanoparticles. These hydrophobic Fe-FexC@C nanoparticles (having diameters under 20 nm) were synthesized by laser pyrolysis from Fe(CO)(5) and C2H4/H-2 and dispersed in water using sodium carboxymethylcellulose, followed by the PANI coating using ultrasonication-assisted oxidative polymerization of aniline hydrochloride. The structure of the resulted composite was characterized by Transmission Electron Microscopy, X-ray diffraction and also by Raman and Infrared spectroscopy. The composite powder shows ferromagnetic behavior with low coercivity and 6.4 emu/g saturation magnetization, having also electric and electrochemical behavior similar with pure PANI reference. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.