A novel poly(o-anisidine)/CoFe2O4 multifunctional nanocomposite: Preparation, characterization and properties

A novel poly(o-anisidine) (POA)/CoFe2O4 nanocomposite was synthesized by a facile in situ polymerization of o-anisidine in the presence of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles which were obtained by a simple refluxing process in ethylene glycol. The structures of the resulting nanocomposite were investigated by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra. The optical, thermal and magnetic properties of the POA/CoFe2O4 nanocomposite were characterized by UV–visible spectrometer, thermogravimetry analyzer (TGA) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). It was indicated the existence of CoFe2O4 in the POA/CoFe2O4 nanocomposite. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation illustrated that POA layers were wrapped on the surface of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles appearing as small aggregated globules. The POA/CoFe2O4 nanocomposite exhibited a ferromagnetic behavior under applied magnetic field at room temperature. The saturation magnetization of POA/CoFe2O4 nanocomposite was lower than that of pure CoFe2O4 nanoparticles due to the contribution of non-magnetic POA layers.