Interaction of iron oxide nanoparticles synthesized by laser target evaporation with polyacrylamide in composites and ferrogels

Iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) with average diameter 11.7 nm synthesized by laser target evaporation were used for the synthesis of composites and ferrogels based on polyacrylamide network. The chemical composition of MNPs corresponded to maghemite. It was shown that intact MNPs strongly interacted with polyacrylamide polymeric network, while the adsorption of electrostatic stabilizer on the surface of MNPs efficiently prevents such interaction. Synthesis of ferrogels was performed by the radical polymerization of acrylamide in  electrostatically stabilized suspensions of MNPs in water. It was shown that the molecular structure, water uptake, and compression modulus can be controlled by the concentration of monomer taken in the synthesis.