Tunability of localization length in naphthalene sulfonic acid doped polyaniline/nickel ferrite composite nanorods system

Abstract

Tunability of key length scales including nanodimensionality, mean free path, localization length, and cyclotron radius gives opportunities to fabricate nanodevices with new functionalities. Herein, in order to tune localization length, composite nanorods (CNRs) of 2-naphthalene sulfonic acid doped polyaniline (PANI-NSA) and nickel ferrite nanoparticles (NiFe2O4 NPs) are synthesized via an in situ chemical polymerization method. The nanorods’ structure and the incorporation of the NiFe2O4 NPs into the PANI-NSA matrix are envisaged by various characterization techniques. The presence of a hysteresis loop with minor coercivity and remanence suggests the ferrimagnetic property of PANI-NSA/NiFe2O4 CNRs at room temperature. Investigation of electrical resistivity as a function of temperature in the absence of an external magnetic field establishes quasi-one-dimensional variable range hopping conduction mechanism of the PANI-NSA/NiFe2O4 CNR samples. CNR samples with two different loadings of NiFe2O4 NPs demonstrate substantial amounts of magnetoresistance (MR) at all the temperatures (300–50 K) studied. Intriguingly, a transition from positive to negative MR is observed with an increase in temperature from 200 to 300 K for CNR samples with less amount of NiFe2O4 (CNRs 1), whereas MR is positive for CNRs with higher loading of NiFe2O4, throughout the studied temperatures. Positive and negative MR behaviors of the CNR samples are quantitatively elucidated in terms of wave function shrinkage and forward interference models. Deduced localization length from the forward interference regime for CNRs 1 is about one order of magnitude larger than that in the wave function shrinkage regime. Thus, tuning of localization length can be achieved qualitatively through appropriate loading of NiFe2O4 NPs.