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Poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) is a versatile polymer which can act as a good host material with good film forming ability and is bio friendly. In this paper PVA film has been used as matrix for depositing Fe nanoparticles to obtain light weight and flexible polymer-metal nanocomposite film with magnetic properties. PVA was deposited on float glass substrate by solution casting method. Ion Beam sputtering method (IBS) was used to sputter Iron (Fe) onto PVA to obtain Fe Deposition with nominal thickness of 30 nm. The nanocomposite film was characterized using Grazing Incident X-ray Diffraction (GIXRD) and magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE). In the GIXRD pattern, the prominent peak at 19.6˚ confirms the presence of PVA crystalline peak. The desirable BCC phase responsible for the magnetic property was detected even in the iron/polymer film. The particle size of Fe nanoparticles is found to be about 6.24 nm. MOKE pattern shows well defined hysteresis loop with coercivety of the order of 20.76 Oe indicating soft ferromagnetic property of the nanocomposite film.

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This paper presents the structural and magnetic properties of polyvinyl alcohol/iron (PVA/Fe) nanocomposite films. Iron (Fe) films of different thicknesses were deposited on a PVA substrate using ion beam sputtering. The Fe nanoparticle layer thickness ranges from 3 to 50 nm on the PVA substrate. Grazing incidence x-ray diffraction has been carried out to study the structural behavior of the prepared films. An atomic force microscope records the indicated remarkable change in the roughness of the nanocomposite film as a result of initiation of vertical growth of sputtered Fe nanoparticles.Magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE) magnetometry and MOKE spectroscopy have been employed to evaluate the magnetic property and simultaneously study the real time growth of the magnetic domain structure for both 0° and 90° azimuthal angles. MOKE microscopic images indicated the magnetization reversal commensurate with the hysteresis loop of the nanocomposites. All the films show soft ferromagnetic behavior. Gradual development of the domain structure is observed in the MOKE micrograph with the increase in the thickness of Fe nanoparticle deposition. Ex situ magnetic force micrographs of the magnetic domain structures supported the observation of MOKE microscopic studies, which indicated switching of in-plane magnetization to out-of-plane magnetization near an Fe nanoparticle deposition thickness of 40 nm. The PVA matrix appears to be an effective material to support the growth of magnetic properties in the PVA/Fe nanocomposite system. The evolution of Fe nanostructures on PVA and the resulting magnetic behavior have been discussed.