Synthesis of Polyaniline-MnFe2O4-CTAB Nanocomposite in Ionic Liquid: Its Magnetic Properties

Abstract

Polyaniline-MnFe2O4 nanocomposite was successfully synthesized by using 1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium bromide (BMIMBr) as ionic liquid and cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as surfactant via in situ polymerization. Structural, morphological, spectroscopic and magnetic properties were investigated by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffractometry (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) respectively. The presence of polyaniline, BMIMBr and CTAB on the surface of the MnFe2O4 nanoparticles was confirmed with FT-IR and chemical purity of the product was proved by XRD. The nonmagnetic coating was significantly observed to change the magnetic properties of the product. The magnetic properties such as saturation magnetization, coercivity and remanence magnetization are seen to increase as the temperature decreases. The magnetization curves verify that the sample has ferromagnetic behavior in the temperature range of 10-400 K. Magnetic measurements revealed that product has uniaxial anisotropy instead of expected cubic anisotropy according to the Stoner-Wohlfarth model.