Preparation and characterization of Fe3O4-CNTs magnetic nanocomposites for potential application in functional magnetic printing ink

This paper presents the synthesis of magnetic carbon nanotube, Fe3O4-CNTs nanocomposites, in which Fe3O4 nanoparticles were grafted to multi-walled carbon nanotube (CNTs) by the in situ hydrothermal method. The prepared Fe3O4-CNTs nanocomposites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Raman, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and vibrating sample magetiometer (VSM). It was found that the Fe3O4 nanoparticles with the size of 20–50 nm had been attached to the CNTs strongly and the nanocomposites exhibited high magnetic saturation value, namely a high magnetic attachment force. Moreover, the nanocomposites were used to prepare magnetic printing ink via physical blending process. The ink film was detected by SEM and VSM, demonstrating that the magnetic ink which holds significant magnetic attachment force and drying smooth film is suitable for the printing industry.