Fabrication of Polyaniline-coated Magnetite/Silica Nanoparticles for Electro-magnetorheological Fluid Application

Abstract

The polyaniline-coated magnetite/silica core/shell nanoparticles (Fe3O4/SiO2/PANI NPs) are successfully fabricated and applied as the dual-responsive smart fluid. The Fe3O4/SiO2/PANI NPs-based EMR fluid exhibits dual stimuli-responsive properties. Moreover, the fluid represents excellent ER efficiency (517.2 % at shear rate of 0.1 /s and field strength of 3 kVmm-1) and MR performance (142.3 % at shear rate of 0.1 /s and field strength of 429 kA/m) in low concentrated system, which is attributed to the uniformity of particles and size effect. Particularly, the fluid is responsive to both electric and magnetic fields simultaneously and fine control of the rheological properties are possible according to field direction. These results would provide the possibilities for rheological control of dual stimuli-responsive smart fluid and their practical application.