Simultaneous synthesis of polyaniline nanorods and magnetite nanoparticles via self-assembly method

In this work, polyaniline (PANI) nanorods and magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles have been synthesised by using ammonium persulphate as oxidant via in-situ chemical oxidative polymerisation of aniline in presence of excess of organic sulphonic acid. The resulting PANI/Fe3O4 nanocomposites materials were characterised using X-ray diffraction, UV-visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, vibrating sampling magnetometer and thermogravimetric analysis. Spectroscopic results indicated the successful formation of PANI/Fe3O4 nanocomposites. As obtained, PANI/Fe3O4 nanocomposites have Fe3O4 particle size in the range of 3.2–7 nm. Morphologies of PANI/Fe3O4 nanocomposites were found to be dependent on the molar ratio of aniline to organic acid. Under certain polymerisation conditions, PANI rods like structures were obtained. PANI/Fe3O4 nanocomposites have superparamagnetism and higher thermal stability.