Fabrication and Characterization of Composite Containing HCl-Doped Polyaniline and Fe Nanoparticles

HCl-doped polyaniline powder (HCl-PANI) was synthesized by using a polymerization procedure. Fe nanoparticles were then deposited on the HCl-PANI at room temperature by direct current magnetron sputtering. After this process the HCl-PANI-Fe composite was obtained. Fe nanoparticle size in the composite is about 100 nm. HCl-PANI structure is not influenced by the Fe nanoparticles. The composite pellet has room temperature ferromagnetism and a conductivity of 0.25 S/cm. Temperature dependence of the conductivity reveals that a carrier transport mechanism in the composite is three-dimensional variable range hopping. Thermogravimetric analysis reveals that a weight loss of the HCl-PANI-Fe composite is smaller than that of the HCl-PANI for the same heating temperature when the temperature exceeds 230∘C.