Flexible bacterial cellulose / permalloy nanocomposite xerogel sheets – Size scalable magnetic actuator-cum-electrical conductor

Permalloy nanoparticles containing bacterial cellulose hydrogel obtained after reduction was compressed into a xerogel flexible sheet by hot pressing at 60 ° C at different pressures. The permalloy nanoparticles with an ordered structure have a bimodal size distribution centered around 25 nm and 190 nm. The smaller nanoparticles are superparamagnetic while the larger particles are ferromagnetic at room temperature. The sheets have a room temperature magnetisation of 20 emug-1 and a coercivity of 32 Oe. The electrical conductivity of the flexible sheets increases with hot pressing pressure from 7 Scm-1 to 40 Scm-1 at room temperature.