Electrical and magnetic properties of Polystyrene doped with Iron nanoparticles

Summary Polymer composites have recently received a considerable amount of scientific and technological interest, because their properties can be properly controlled, choosing the adequate doped particles, their size and concentrations, and the synthesis conditions. In this work we report the synthesis and characterization of a polystyrene (PS) matrix doped with different concentrations of iron nanoparticles. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize the structure of the samples. The behaviour of the d.c. electrical conductivity (σ_dc) and the complex permittivity (ε*=ε^′-iε^′′) as a function of frequency (100 Hz–10 MHz) reflects the important effect of the iron nanoparticles concentration in the sample properties. A percolation threshold in the conductivity was observed at a critical concentration of iron nanoparticles. A noticeable increase in the saturation magnetization and coercivity is observed with the rise of the iron nanoparticles concentration, being thisbehaviour also noticed in the remanent magnetization. A rise of the initial a.c. susceptibility with the iron concentration is also observed.