Formation of magnetically anisotropic composite films at low magnetic fields

摘要

We present a straightforward two-step technique for the fabrication of poly (methyl methacrylate) composites with embedded aligned magnetic chains. First, ferromagnetic microwires are realized in a poly (methyl methacrylate) solution by assembling iron nanoparticles in a methyl methacrylate solution under heat in an external magnetic field of 160 mT. The simultaneous thermal polymerization of the monomer throughout the wires is responsible for their permanent linkage and stability. Next, the polymer solution containing the randomly dispersed microwires is casted on a solid substrate in the presence of a low magnetic field (20-40mT) which induces the final alignment of the microwires into long magnetic chains upon evaporation of the solvent. We prove that the presence of the nanoparticles assembled in the form of microwires is a key factor for the formation of the anisotropic films under low magnetic fields. In fact, such low fields are not capable of driving and assembling dispersed magnetic nanoparticles in the same type of polymer solutions. Hence, this innovative approach can be utilized for the synthesis of magnetically anisotropic nanocomposite films at low magnetic fields.