IR and X-ray characterization of the ferromagnetic phase of pyrolysed polyacrylonitrile Original Research Article

The polymer was prepared by γ-ray induced polymerization in air and pyrolysis under argon at various temperatures in the range 600–900°C. The content in the carbon and oxygen increases at the expense of decreasing content in nitrogen and hydrogen. The ferromagnetic phase separated from the residue resulted by the pyrolysis of polyacrylonitrile has been analysed using Fourier transform infrared, X-ray diffraction and elemental analysis. The experimental data suggest a layered structure of this polymer with an interlayer spacing of ca 3.5 Å and various chemical functions grafted on graphite domains.