Novel ternary Fe3O4@polyaniline/polyazomethine/polyetheretherketone crosslinked hybrid membranes: fabrication, thermal properties and electromagnetic behaviours

Abstract

We report a simple and effective method for preparing novel ternary-hybrid membranes comprising Fe₃O₄@polyaniline nanocomposites and polyazomethine/polyetheretherketone matrix via a sol–gel process. Polyetheretherketone as a superior engineering thermoplastics matrix can significantly enhance the thermal stability of the hybrid membranes with high glass transition temperature (T_g > 160 °C) and thermal decomposition temperature (T_d-5% > 300 °C). Meanwhile, the conductive-polymer/magnetic nanocomposites can effectively improve the microwave-absorbing property of the membranes. Their electromagnetic and microwave-absorbing properties are studied in detail. The hybrid materials with 40 wt% nanocomposites content exhibits significant microwave-absorbing properties with a maximum reflection loss about −18 dB at 14 GHz. Moreover, the crosslinked hybrid materials exhibit excellent solvent resistance. This hybrid technique provides a novel route for the designing and preparation of light-weight, stable and high performance microwave-absorbing materials.