Fabrication and characteristic of conductive and ferromagnetic hollow composite microcapsules

The fabrication of conductive and ferromagnetic hollow composite microcapsules with polypyrrole (PPy) shell and Fe3O4 inner-wall was successfully accomplished via a sequential processes of electrostatic attraction between negatively charged polystyrene (PS) latex and Fe3O4 nanoparticles, the polymerization of pyrrole and the dissolution of PS core. The morphology of the hollow composite microcapsules was testified by TEM and XRD. The hollow microcapsules possessed a conductivity of 10− 2 S/cm, and their ferromagnetic property was attributed to the presence of magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles on the inner-wall. The improved thermal stability of the hollow microcapsules could be interpreted due to the interaction between Fe3O4 nanoparticles and PPy chains.