Synthesis and characterization of novel conductive and magnetic nano-composites

In the last years, a great deal of attention has been paid to use nano-sized ferrites as advanced additives in conducting polymers. The embedding of the ferrite materials into polymeric matrices is the simplest way to take advantage of some novel physical characteristics. In the present work, the preparation of a polyaniline/Co1-xMgxFe2O4 nano-composite (x = 0, 0.5, 1) with good magnetic and electrical properties was described. The structure, morphologies and properties of the samples were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, TEM, TGA, VSM and conductivity measurements. Nano-particles appear well dispersed in the polymer matrix and the results of TGA indicated that the ferrite nano-particles could improve the composite thermal stability. The electrical conductivity of the pure polyaniline decreased while the saturation magnetization (M-s) and coercivity (H-c) increased with ferrite. The ability of the composites to remove the toxic dyes from waste water was investigated. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier B.V.