Synthesis and magnetic properties of bacterial cellulose—ferrite (MFe2O4, M = Mn, Co, Ni, Cu) nanocomposites prepared by co-precipitation method**Invited talk at 5th Thailand International Nanotechnology Conference (Nano Thailand-2016), 27–29 November 2016, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.

Abstract

The magnetic nanocomposites based on bacterial cellulose (BC) matrix and ferrite (MFe2O4, M = Mn, Co, Ni and Cu) nanoparticles (NPs) were fabricated. The never-dried and freeze-dried BC nanofibrils were used as templates and a co-precipitation method was applied for NPs synthesis. The nanocomposites were either freeze-dried or annealed before subjected to characterization. The x-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy showed that only MnFe2O4 and CoFe2O4 NPs could be successfully incorporated in the BC nanostructures. The results also indicated that the BC template should be freeze-dried prior to the co-precipitation process. The magnetic measurement by a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) showed that the strongest ferromagnetic signal was found for BC-CoFe2O4 nanocomposites. The morphological investigation by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) showed the largest volume fraction of NPs in the BC-CoFe2O4 sample which was complimentary to the magnetic property measurement. Annealing resulted in the collapse of the opened nanostructure of the BC composites.