Facile synthesis and characterization of Fe3O4–CNT magnetic nanocomposite

Fe3O4-multiwalled carbon nanotubes nanocomposite was synthesized by a sol-gel method using acid treated CNTs, iron(III) chloride hexahydrate as a precursor of iron and glucose as a complexing agent. The structure and properties of as-prepared Fe3O4-CNTs composite were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). It was found that the Fe3O4 nanoparticles with average sizes of 10-12 nm had been attached to CNTs uniformly and the nanocomposite with magnetic saturation of 19emu/g was proved to be a superparamagnetic material with coercivity and remanent magnetization close to nil.

Keywords:

acid treated CNTs , Fe3O4 , glucose , and superparamagnetic