PMMA-based magnetic nanocomposite fibrous mats reach oil absorption efficiencies up to 90% in water–oil stable emulsions.

No abstract

We demonstrate the formation of stable magnetic microwires (MWs) in solution starting from a highly diluted solution of monomer−thermal initiator− superparamagnetic nanoparticles (SMNPs). Under an external magnetic field (MF) the SMNPs get closely packed into wire-like assemblies that become permanently linked due to simultaneous thermal polymerization of the monomer. As the SMNPs assemble in the form of wires under MF, the concentration of the monomer chains adsorbed onto them increases in the near proximity of these assemblies, promoting the polymerization process during heating. This combined process causes the permanent bonding among the SMNPs, forming smooth MWs with metallic character. Detailed microscopic and spectroscopic studies reveal the mechanism of the process and designate the importance of the external MF, the thermal polymerization, and the high dilution factor of the reaction solution for the formation of free-standing uniform wires with controlled size. This method leads to a novel approach to form long magnetic wires with smooth contour and regular shape, which can be used in various fields of applications like in biomedicine, chemistry, fluidics, etc.

We present a straightforward two-step technique for the fabrication of poly (methyl methacrylate) composites with embedded aligned magnetic chains. First, ferromagnetic microwires are realized in a poly (methyl methacrylate) solution by assembling iron nanoparticles in a methyl methacrylate solution under heat in an external magnetic field of 160 mT. The simultaneous thermal polymerization of the monomer throughout the wires is responsible for their permanent linkage and stability. Next, the polymer solution containing the randomly dispersed microwires is casted on a solid substrate in the presence of a low magnetic field (20–40 mT) which induces the final alignment of the microwires into long magnetic chains upon evaporation of the solvent. We prove that the presence of the nanoparticles assembled in the form of microwires is a key factor for the formation of the anisotropic films under low magnetic fields. In fact, such low fields are not capable of driving and assembling dispersed magnetic nanoparticles in the same type of polymer solutions. Hence, this innovative approach can be utilized for the synthesis of magnetically anisotropic nanocomposite films at low magnetic fields.