Supplementary Material (ESI) for Soft Matter

This journal is (c) The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011

1

Supporting Information for the article in

Soft Matter

Nanocomposites combining conducting and superparamagnetic

components prepared via an organogel by

Elena Taboada, Lise N. Feldborg, Angel Pérez del Pino, Anna Roig, David B.

Amabilino* and Josep Puigmartí-Luis*

Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (CSIC), Campus Universitari, 08193

Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain. Fax: 34 93 5805729; Tel: 34 93 580 1853; E-mail:

amabilino@icmab.es, jpuigma@googlemail.com

______________________________________________________________________

Analysis of anisotropy of fibres in conducting (doped) xerogel samples

Ratio (in percentage) of the shortest decrease length at 0.2 from the autocorrelation

image, on the greatest length. This parameter has a result between 0 and 1. If the value

is near 1, we can say that the surface is isotropic, i.e. has the same characteristics in all

directions. If the value is near 0, the surface is anisotropic, i.e. has an oriented and/or

periodical structure.

0 5 10 15 20 2520

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

Isot

ropy

NP Percentage (%)

Supplementary Material (ESI) for Soft Matter

This journal is (c) The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011

2

Estimation of conducting domain size.

In order to quantify the highly conducting areas in the CS-AFM images, an analysis of

the percentage area with conductance above 1 ns has been performed, and the results are

shown graphically below. As the percentage of NPs is increased in the samples, the

general trend is that the highly conducting areas are decreased greatly.

0 5 10 15 20 25-20

0

20

40

60

80

100

Mea

n ar

ea (%

)

NP Percentage (%)

Supplementary Material (ESI) for Soft Matter

This journal is (c) The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011

3

Images from analysis of anisotropy of fibres in conducting (doped) xerogel samples

and areas of conducting material

Below are the images and analyses of the analysis of anisotropy of the gel samples

containing nanoparticles as a function of the proportion of the latter.

1V

Projected Area (%) 1.53 98.5

0% NP

1 nS

nA

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

90 0.5 1 1.5 2 µm

µm

0

0.25

0.5

0.75

1

1.25

1.5

1.75

2

V

0

0.947

1.89

2.84

3.79

4.74

5.68

6.63

7.58

8.53

9.470 20 40 60 80 100 %

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 %

0°

10°

20°

30°

40°

50°

60°70°

80°90°100°110°

120°

130°

140°

150°

160°

170°

180°

Isotropy: 29.2 %

First Direction: 0.256°

Second Direction: 114°

Third Direction: 108°

Histogram

Abbott-Firestone curve

1% NP

nA

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

90 200 400 600 800 1000 nm

nm

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

10001V

Projected Area (%) 3.96 96V

0

0.999

2

3

4

5

5.99

6.99

7.99

8.99

9.990 20 40 60 80 100 %

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 %

1 nS

0°

10°

20°

30°

40°

50°

60°70°

80°90°100°110°

120°

130°

140°

150°

160°

170°

180°

Isotropy: 23.9 %

First Direction: 90°

Second Direction: 0.334°

Third Direction: 82°

Supplementary Material (ESI) for Soft Matter

This journal is (c) The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011

4

1V

Projected Area (%) 6.43 93.6

5% NP

1 nS

nA

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

0 200 400 600 800 1000 nm

nm

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

V

0

0.98

1.96

2.94

3.92

4.9

5.88

6.86

7.84

8.82

9.80 20 40 60 80 100 %

0 1 2 3 4 5 %

0°

10°

20°

30°

40°

50°

60°70°80°90°100°110°

120°

130°

140°

150°

160°

170°

180°

Isotropy: 16.5 %

First Direction: 0.311°

Second Direction: 93.5°

Third Direction: 101°

Supplementary Material (ESI) for Soft Matter

This journal is (c) The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011

5

1V

Projected Area (%) 93.2 6.82

15% NP

1 nS

nA

00.511.522.533.544.555.566.570 1 2 3 4 5 µm

µm

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

V

0

0.742

1.48

2.23

2.97

3.71

4.45

5.2

5.94

6.68

7.420 20 40 60 80 100 %

0 10 20 30 40 50 %

0°

10°

20°

30°

40°

50°

60°70°

80°90°100°110°

120°

130°

140°

150°

160°

170°

180°

Isotropy: 45.2 %

First Direction: 0.301°

Second Direction: 63.5°

Third Direction: 45°

Supplementary Material (ESI) for Soft Matter

This journal is (c) The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011

6

25% NPnA

0

0.25

0.5

0.75

1

1.25

1.5

1.75

2

2.25

2.5

2.75

30 200 400 600 800 1000 nm

nm

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

V

0

0.303

0.606

0.909

1.21

1.52

1.82

2.12

2.42

2.73

3.030 20 40 60 80 100 %

0 2 4 6 8 10 %

1V

Projected Area (%) 93.1 6.86

1 nS

0°

10°

20°

30°

40°

50°

60°70°80°90°100°110°

120°

130°

140°

150°

160°

170°

180°

Isotropy: 33.8 %

First Direction: 0.32°

Second Direction: 171°

Third Direction: 163°