Influence of agglomerations on magnetic properties of polymer matrices filled with magnetic nanoparticles

Magnetic nanoparticles can be embedded in electrospun nanofibers and other polymeric matrices to prepare magnetic composites with defined magnetic and mechanical properties. Metal-oxide nanoparticles, such as magnetite or nickel-ferrite, are of special interest since they do not need a coating to avoid oxidation. Like other nanoparticles, these metal-oxide nanoparticles tend to form agglomerations, in this way modifying the magnetic properties of the composites. After studying this effect for the magnetic elements Co, Fe, Ni as well as permalloy (Py) in a previous study, defining a new method to quantify the nanoparticle distribution in a polymer, here we concentrate on the influence of agglomerations on the magnetic properties of metal-oxide nanoparticles with different diameters in non-magnetic matrices.