The
barium ferrite/polyaniline (BaFe12O19/PANI)
nanocomposites with room temperature negative giant magnetoresistance
(GMR) are fabricated by the surface-initiated polymerization (SIP)
method. The maximum negative GMR value is −7.1% in BaFe12O19/PANI nanocomposites with a BaFe12O19 loading of 20 wt % at a magnetic field of 9 T. The
electrical transport mechanism of these samples is investigated by
thermally activated transport (TAT) model at the high temperature
range (180–290 K) and Mott variable range hopping (VRH) mechanism
at the low temperature range (50–180 K). The results reveal
that the electrical transport of pure PANI and BaFe12O19/PANI nanocomposites obeys the 3-D VRH mechanism. The estimated
activation energy (E) (related to the energy required
for charge carrier hopping process) for pure PANI and BaFe12O19/PANI nanocomposites with a BaFe12O19 loading of 10, 20, 30, and 40 wt % is calculated to be 38.5,
47.0, 52.1, 53.8, and 66.8 meV, respectively, according to the TAT
model. With the aim of explaining the negative GMR phenomenon in BaFe12O19/PANI nanocomposites, the forward interference
model is introduced, demonstrating the localized length of carriers
varies with the applied magnetic field.