Conducting ferromagnetic copolymer of aniline and 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene containing nanocrystalline barium ferrite particles

This article reports the synthesis of conducting ferromagnetic complex of 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) and aniline (An) containing M-type hexagonal barium ferrite (BaFe12O19) particles using in situ emulsion polymerization and electrochemical oxidative polymerization. Magnetic and conductivity studies reveal that the conducting ferromagnetic complex possesses high-saturation magnetization (M-s) value of 29.2 emu/g and conductivity of the order of 0.256 S/cm determined through vibrating sample magnetometer and four-probe method. Microwave measurement has shown the reflection loss (R-L) of -12.1 dB in Ku-band that can be used as a microwave absorbing material. The polymer complex was further characterized by techniques like X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared, UV-visible, cyclic voltammetry, and thermal analysis with thermogravimetric analysis. (C) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.