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Bare Cu 0.26 Ni 0.74 alloy nanoparticles and those blended with multi-walled carbon nanotubes are synthesized by hydrothermal method. Nearly monodispersed and crystalline nanoparticles, which get attached onto the nanotube surfaces on blending, can be seen from the morphological characterizations. Single X-ray diffraction peaks occurring for each pair of (hkl) reflections from Cu and Ni are suggestive of the formation of Cu–Ni alloy. Small, concurrent binding energy shifts in the X-ray photoelectron peaks reveal a charge (electron) transfer from the nanotubes to the nanoparticles. Blue shifts in characteristic Raman peaks corroborate the charge transfer process. Magnetic studies show a significant enhancement in the low temperature coercivity of nanoparticles on their attachment with CNTs. This enhancement is attributable to the inferred charge transfer, which is further substantiated by an anomalous increase in the coercivity on temperature rise. This work demonstrates that a considerably large enhancement in the coercivity of Cu 0.26 Ni 0.74 alloy nanoparticles can be achieved by blending them with carbon nanotubes. Such composites could be very good candidates for applications such as magnetic storage devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this report, we have synthesized the binary and ternary phase nanocomposites [(polyethylene (PE)1−X/(Cr2O3)x) and (PE)1−X/(Cr2O3)X/CNTs (where X = 0, 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, and 10%)] using the melt mixing method and studied the structural, optical, thermal and dielectric properties with an increase in Cr2O3 nanofiller concentration. Our results show an increase in interfacial interactions between Cr2O3 nanofiller and PE matrix with an increase in nanofiller concentration up to X = 6%. After that, the interactions decreased with a further increase in X because of the increase in the size of the Cr2O3 nanoparticle aggregates. Incorporating 2% carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into (PE)1−X/(Cr2O3)X nanocomposites, further decreases the interactions between the Cr2O3 nanofiller and the PE matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]