Polyaniline/Au&Fe3O4@Au sub-microcables fabricated by electrospinning and electroless deposition

Coaxial of polyaniline (PANI)/Au&Fe3O4@Au sub-microcables were fabricated by combining electrospinning with electroless deposition. The mercaptocarboxylic acid was used to introduce hydrogen bonding and/or electrostatic interaction between PANI and Au&Fe3O4@Au nanoparticles in the formation of PANI/Au&Fe3O4@Au sub-microcables. The morphologies and structures of the resulting composites were analyzed by scanning electron micrograph (SEM), transmission electron micrograph (TEM). Semiconductor parameter analyzer and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) were used to characterize the electrical and magnetic properties of the sub-microcables. It is found that this composite sub-microcable has high conductivity (58.4 S/cm) and relatively large coercivity (930 G). Its conductivity is 17.7 times higher than that of H2SO4-doped PANI fibers and coercivity is 13.6 times higher than that of H2SO4-doped PANI nanoparticles and it shows obvious ferromagnetic property. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.