Magnetic amendment in the fabrication of environment friendly and biodegradable iron oxide/ethyl cellulose nanocomposite membrane via electrospinning

Abstract

Organic and inorganic composite nanomaterials have been extensively investigated for diverse magnetic applications. However, the rigidity of the nanoparticles hinders their practical implementation. In this study, an environmentally benign composite flexible nanofiber membrane containing magnetic α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles and ethyl cellulose was fabricated by electrospinning. X-ray diffraction, FTIR, SEM and TEM investigated the structural properties systematically while VSM analysis was used to compare the magnetic properties of α-Fe2O3 and α-Fe2O3/C20H38O11 nanomaterials. XRD patterns exhibit all characteristics of the diffraction peaks of synthesized samples without any secondary phase. Sharp peaks were observed in FTIR spectral characteristic bands evince that absorption band becomes more prominent for α-Fe2O3/ethyl cellulose nanocomposite than pristine ethyl cellulose. SEM analysis reveals the homogenous growth of particles and uniformly, dense pattern of nanofiber membrane. TEM image demonstrates the complete dispersion of α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles within the ethyl cellulose matrix. The enhanced values of remnant and saturated magnetization of the α-Fe2O3/C20H38O11 nanofiber membrane exhibits the imperative role of nanocomposite in the flexible applications. In this work, α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles were synthesized with the help of hydrothermal method and electrospinning was used to fabricate α-Fe2O3/C20H38O11 nanofiber membrane. The crystallite size calculated for α-Fe2O3 nanoparticle prepared by hydrothermal process is relatively larger than that for nanoparticles embedded within the α-Fe2O3/C20H38O11 nanofiber membrane. Significant decrease in the agglomeration of α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles within nanofiber membrane accounted for its enhanced the magnetic properties.