Influence of treatment conditions and nanotube type on the decoration of MWCNTS with magnetic particles

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are attractive materials which are generally used to render multifunctionality to polymeric matrices; such multifunctionality can be enhanced when the MWCNTs are decorated with suitable particles. In this work, oxidized MWCNTs were decorated with iron oxide nanoparticles obtained by hydrolization at high temperature in the presence of triethylene glycol and Iron (III) chloride as metal precursor. The influence of the concentration of iron precursor and reflux time in the hydrolysis, as well as the structural ordering and diameter of the MWCNT on the decoration was investigated. EDS, HRTEM, Raman spectroscopy, XRD, TGA, XPS and vibrating sample magnetometry were used to characterize the decorated MWCNTs. The results indicate that a more homogeneous decoration and higher saturation magnetization is achieved for MWCNTs with smaller diameter and greater density of defective/reactive sites at a concentration of 1:2 (MWCNTs: FeCl3*6H2O) with 30 minutes of reflux time.