Synthesis and investigation of the structure of nanocomposites based on nickel nanoparticles dispersed in a phthalocyanine matrix

A method based on doping of pure nickel phthalocyanine (NiPc) with a polycrystalline potassium powder at relatively low temperatures (300$^\circ$C) has been proposed for the synthesis of a magnetic nanocomposite containing nickel nanoparticles stabilized in the NiPc matrix. The structural analysis of the synthesized nanoparticles and changes in the NiPc initial matrix has been performed using X-ray diffraction, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. It has been found that, at the doping level used in this study, the synthesized samples of the K$_x$ NiPc nanocomposites contain from 9 to 18% Ni in the form of metallic magnetic nanoparticles with an average size of more than 40 nm. It has been shown that the formation of nanoparticles is accompanied by a relative misorientation of persistent NiPc molecules with the unchanged structure of each of these molecules. The stabilization of nickel nanoparticles by the phthalocyanine matrix leads to the fact that the synthesized nanocomposites acquire time-conserving magnetic properties.