Conducting polymer embedded with nanoferrite and titanium dioxide nanoparticles for microwave absorption

The present paper deals with the synthesis of conducting ferrimagnetic polyaniline nanocomposite embedded with gamma-Fe2O3 (9-12 nm) and titanium dioxide (70-90 nm) nanoparticles via a micro-emulsion polymerization. The microwave absorption properties of nanocomposite in 12.4-18 GHz (Ku-band) frequency range shows shielding effectiveness due to absorption (SEA) value of -45 dB, which is much higher than polyaniline composite with iron oxide and polyaniline-TiO2 composites. The higher EMI shielding is mainly arising due to combined effect of gamma-Fe2O3 and TiO2 that leads to more dielectric and magnetic losses which consequently contributed to higher values of shielding effectiveness. XRD analysis of the nanocomposite reveals the incorporation of nanoparticles in the conducting polymer matrix while the thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) demonstrates that the nanocomposite is stable up to 250 degrees C. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.