Electromagnetic nanocomposites prepared by cryomilling of polyaniline and Fe nanoparticles

Abstract

Abstract The polyaniline (PANI)/iron nanocomposites have been prepared by high‐energy ball milling under cryogenic temperatures, namely cryomilling, of PANI with Fe nanoparticles. It takes 5 h to refine the Fe into an average grain size of 20 nm and to get homogeneously dispersed in PANI matrix. The obtained PANI/Fe nanocomposites have a maximum conductivity of 0.78 S cm −1 after 2‐h cryomilling, whereas its coercivity increases monotonously with time in the range of experiment up to 10 h. It is found that the sizes of Fe particles have obvious effects on both electrical and magnetic properties. When compared with micrometer Fe particles as raw materials, Fe nanoparticles result in somewhat lower conductivity but a much higher coercivity exceeding 400 Oe. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 46: 1571–1576, 2008