Sonochemical synthesis of MnFe₂O₄ nanoparticles with ionic liquid and their application in magnetic and dielectric polystyrene nanocomposites

Abstract MnFe2O4 nanoparticles were successfully synthesized via a simple sonochemical reaction by using 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide ionic liquid and cetyl trimethylammonium bromide as surfactant. MnFe2O4 nanoparticles with ionic liquid were added to polystyrene for preparation of magnetic polymeric nanocomposites. Structural, morphological, spectroscopic, magnetic and dielectric properties were investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffractometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometry respectively. The results of thermogravimetric analysis indicated that the addition of MnFe2O4 nanoparticles with ionic liquid to polystyrene improved the thermal stability of the nanocomposite. The magnetization curves elucidate that the MnFe2O4 nanoparticles with ionic liquid/polystyrene nanocomposite has ferromagnetic behavior and improved saturation magnetization, coercivity and remanent magnetization. The electrical quantities such as dielectric constant (ε′), imaginary permittivity (ε″) and dielectric loss (tan (δ) = ε″/ε′) of MnFe2O4 nanoparticles and MnFe2O4 nanoparticles with ionic liquid/polystyrene nanocomposite were evaluated for temperature and frequency dependence. The obtained results are enhanced due to increase in the temperature and decreased with increasing frequency in MnFe2O4 nanoparticles with ionic liquid/polystyrene nanocomposite.