Nickel ferrite embedded polyvinylidene fluoride composite based flexible magneto-electric systems

Abstract

Developing flexible multiferroic composite with magnetoelectric coupling is highly desirable for the wearable electronic devices, magnetic field sensors, actuators, energy harvesters and memory devices. Here, a flexible artificial multiferroic composite was fabricated using ferromagnetic nickel ferrite (NiFe₂O₄) nanoparticles (NPs) as filler in the ferroelectric polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) matrix. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies revealed the formation of the inverse spinel phase in NiFe₂O₄ NPs. The vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and XRD measurements showed an increase in the magnetic moment and the electroactive β phase fraction, respectively, in PVDF/NiFe₂O₄ composite with the increasing loading concentration of NiFe₂O₄ filler NPs. With the increase in NiFe₂O₄ NPs loading concentration to 40 wt % the magnetoelectric coupling between the ferroelectric (PVDF) and ferromagnetic (NiFe₂O₄ NPs) was confirmed using magnetocapacitance measurement. This work successfully demonstrates the potential of artificial multiferroic PVDF/NiFe₂O₄ composite system, with enhanced dielectric property and room temperature magnetoelectric coupling, for future flexible electronic devices.