Sonochemical synthesis of MnFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles with ionic liquid and their application in magnetic and dielectric polystyrene nanocomposites

MnFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles were successfully synthesized via a simple sonochemical reaction by using 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide ionic liquid and cetyl trimethylammonium bromide as surfactant. MnFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles with ionic liquid were added to polystyrene for preparation of magnetic polymeric nanocomposites. Structural, morphological, spectroscopic, magnetic and dielectric properties were investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffractometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometry respectively. The results of thermogravimetric analysis indicated that the addition of MnFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles with ionic liquid to polystyrene improved the thermal stability of the nanocomposite. The magnetization curves elucidate that the MnFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles with ionic liquid/polystyrene nanocomposite has ferromagnetic behavior and improved saturation magnetization, coercivity and remanent magnetization. The electrical quantities such as dielectric constant ( ε ′), imaginary permittivity ( ε ″) and dielectric loss (tan ( δ ) = ε ″/ ε ′) of MnFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles and MnFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles with ionic liquid/polystyrene nanocomposite were evaluated for temperature and frequency dependence. The obtained results are enhanced due to increase in the temperature and decreased with increasing frequency in MnFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles with ionic liquid/polystyrene nanocomposite.