Synthesis of Co-doped barium strontium titanate nanofibers by sol-gel/electrospinning process

Multiferroic materials possess at least two ferroic properties which make them particularly suitable for multifunctional device applications. The purpose of this work was to get one-dimensional multiferroics by doping of Co into ferroelectrics. Multiferroic Ba0.7Sr0.3Ti0.95Co0.05O3 nanofibers were prepared via a sol-gel and electrospinning technique. The nanofibers annealed at 700 degrees C exhibited highly crystalline structure with no detectable impurity phase. The nanofibers before and after heat treatment were both well-distributed, and the fibrous morphology could be observed obviously. After the annealing process, the nanofibers showed a rough surface and relatively tight structure. The magnetic hysteresis loop confirmed the expected ferromagnetic properties with a saturation magnetization of 398.99 memu/g, a retentivity of 20233 memu/g, and a coercivity of 112.54 Oe measured at room temperature. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.