Chemical synthesis of poly(3-thiophene-acetic-acid)/magnetite nanocomposites with tunable magnetic behaviour

Conducting polymer-based magnetic composites with controlled magnetic behaviour have been synthesized by chemical polymerization in nanoparticle containing organic media. Poly(3-thiophene-acetic-acid)–Fe3O4 hybrids have been prepared with five different iron-oxide contents, up to 20 m/m%, according to the results obtained by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopic (ICP-AES) measurements. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Mössbauer spectroscopic results gave direct evidences for the incorporation of both maghemite and magnetite. Photoacoustic Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic (PAS-FT-IR) measurements showed a chemical interaction between the polymer and the iron-oxide particles. SQUID investigations indicated a typical superparamagnetic behaviour for all samples, where saturation magnetization values proved to be tunable by the Fe3O4 content. After coating them onto electrode surfaces, basic electrochemical activity of the composite samples was demonstrated by cyclic voltammetry.