| One-dimensional magnetic nanowires (NWs) have attracted a great deal of attention recently due to their interesting physical properties and applications. This dissertation involves synthesizing magnetic NWs, manipulating NWs under the effect of external magnetic field in various suspensions, and integrating and assembling the NWs in polymer to develop anisotropic nanocomposites.; Nickel NWs with high aspect ratio were fabricated in nanoporous alumina membranes by template assisted electrodeposition. Electrodeposition provides the flexibility to control the size, structure, morphology and composition of the NWs. One of the major challenges is to assemble the as-synthesized NWs for the development of polymer nanocomposites and biomedical sensors. In this project, magnetic field was used to assemble NWs by controlling their motion and position in fluids. This is a low-cost, non-contact and easy to scale-up approach. Nanowire rotation in responding to fixed and rotating uniform field in various suspensions has been investigated. Due to strong wire and field interaction, small fields are sufficient to manipulate NWs even in highly viscous fluids. Synchronous rotation of NWs with field has been successfully achieved indicating that NWs can be used as "nano-stir bars". To describe the NW rotation, quantitative model based on the competing magnetic field induced torque and resisting fluid drag torque was developed.; As a demonstration of potential applications of the NWs, polymer nanocomposites have been fabricated. Polydimethylsiloxane with low elastic modulus and tensile strength was chosen as the polymer of interest. Based on the magnetic field manipulation, composites with NWs distributed in different orientations (random, longitudinal and transverse) were synthesized. To characterize the nonlinear elastic behavior of the composites, a high resolution strain measurement method using "micro-ruler" was developed. The mechanical and magnetic properties of composite samples were observed to be dependent on the concentration and orientation of the NWs. The elastic modulus and tensile strength increased with the concentration of NWs. Composites with NWs arranged in longitudinal direction to the applied load showed higher ductility and elastic modulus compared to randomly oriented samples. These composites can be used for structural reinforcement, electromagnetic interference shielding and biomedical devices. |
